In today’s press it’s been reported that more and more female office workers are turning to drink and dying an early death. The report, from the Office of National Statistics, cited that if the office was male-dominated and the culture included regular drinking then these young women would be ultimately risking their lives to keep up.

It’s one thing to enjoy the odd drink after work but if you are finding it harder or impossible not to reach for alcohol at the day’s end then maybe you need to do serious thinking.

It’s very easy to fall into such habits if that’s what everyone else does, or if it was part of your parent’s patterns. Then over time you lose the power to decide not to drink. It’s as if you’ve signed over your self-respect and responsibility to look after yourself.

That’s where you need to work if you are worried about the level of drink you are consuming. Ask yourself do you really care about you and are you taking responsibility for how you feel about your work, your family life and your social activities.

So often when I work with clients who tell me they just can’t stop drinking too many every night, I find that they’ve given up on themselves. They’ve stopped caring about some aspect of their personality. It might be that they can’t communicate with their kids, or don’t feel their partner respects them or listens to them. Or perhaps work is unpleasant or stressful.

There will always be problems to face and tricky relationships to handle in our lives, but not dealing with them and going inside makes life harder. Problems become magnified because we only have our own negative thoughts swirling round our heads adding to the misery.

So take some time out and make one small action that is just for you or reminds you that you count. It could be arranging a pamper session or relaxing massage, or perhaps suggesting a spur of the moment walk in the country. Or talking to a friend you’ve not been in touch with for a long time.

Even better would be to enrol on something like an evening class to learn a subject or hobby. Nothing increases self esteem better than learning and development. What have you always wanted to learn or do and kept putting off?

If you want to learn the secrets of making a turnaround in your life read my e-book Beat the Burnout Blues