I was a 50-something-year-old, who had been locked into the habit of drinking for over 35 years. Every day, I was putting this poison inside myself, thinking it was some form of relaxant, stress reliever, anxiety killer. I was overweight, short of breath, anxious, short-tempered and doing very little exercise, all symptoms of too much alcohol consumption and an unhealthy lifestyle.
Most nights I would lay awake at night believing I was an addict and could never stop. But I did and that person has gone forever. In the 36 years that I drank alcohol I had 1,000s of day ones – days in which I planned to stop drinking but never did. At the end I was drinking around a bottle of wine a night and more on the weekends.
I spent the first year finding my purpose and in doing so I started to transform my mind and my body. I discovered the secret to alcohol-free living through looking at my values and beliefs and many limiting beliefs. I calmed my mind through meditation and mindfulness practice. I changed my story and that changed my life. In the first few weeks of alcohol-free living, I took a long, hard look at my beliefs. I realised that my beliefs are simply assumptions which I hold to be true and which may – or may not be – based on facts.
One of the first major changes I made to my belief system, was to make 'there is nothing I can't do' a central part of who I am. Rather than list all my beliefs, which would take a very long time, I concentrated on those that are relevant to pursuing a healthy, alcohol-free life. I had to get rid of the negative beliefs – they were holding me back. But I also needed to add some ‘superpower’ beliefs to the positive ones to ‘supercharge’ me, to create the new me.
There are so many changes for the good that stand out, but a few of them are: being anxiety free; sleeping seven hours every night; losing weight; better relationships; and being much much more present. Mark Twain said, the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you found out why. I found out why when I stopped drinking.
The central part of my purpose is now to give back. At my core, I believe I have a duty to pass on the secret to alcohol-free living information as I have tried my best to do in the pages of this book. I have been alcohol-free since December 2020, and during that time every single part of my life has dramatically improved. I am now on a mission to share my journey to motivate, educate and inspire as many people as possible to take a break from alcohol and ultimately to live a better life through my coaching and books.
