¶ Transformative Benefits of Quitting Alcohol
Welcome to the Stop Drinking Podcast , where we help you make stopping drinking a simple , logical and easy decision . We help you with tips , tools and strategies to start living your best life when alcohol-free . If you want to learn more about stop drinking coaching , then head over to wwwsoberclearcom . So is stopping drinking alcohol even worth it ?
Is it worth the struggle of removing this thing from your life that's been there for so long ? And is the juice worth the squeeze ? Well , after not drinking myself for six years , after 10 years of drinking , I can say with 100% certainty that it will change your life , mostly in a good way , but it isn't without its negatives .
So today , in this video , I want to break down the good things that will happen after you get alcohol out of your life , but I also want to explain the bad things that can happen , because I want you to be prepared for the good , sure , but when the bad things start happening , you need to be ready for them , because they're fixable , but only if you're aware .
So I'm going to give you a full picture of what to expect , but I promise you one thing if you get on this path , you won't regret it . But this video will be instrumental in you making this change and actually sticking with it and getting as much as you can out of this new lifestyle .
So I'm going to break down three positives , but then I'm also going to break down three negatives . So a very quick intro . My name is Leon Sylvester .
I'm the founder of SoberClearcom and we're a coaching company that helps business owners and professionals get control of their drinking within as little as 48 hours , but without things like AA meetings or using willpower or therapists or anything like that . It's something completely different . So the very first positive is that you will become somebody different .
So , as part of my work and part of my business , I have had a lot of conversations with people who have a drinking problem and I have witnessed hundreds upon hundreds of transformations in my program .
Sure , there are plenty of people that have done that on their own by watching this YouTube channel , but I've interacted with a lot of people and I have seen hundreds upon hundreds of people change . So when I say you become somebody different , let me give you a few examples .
So when people are thinking of joining the Sober Clear program , I get on a phone call with them . I've done every single one of these calls myself . I've done thousands of them . And quite often , when people call me , they're not in a great place . They're contemplating change . They've tried things already . They just know that they want to do something different .
And when I get on a phone call with them , I'm often met with low energy . I'm met with defeat . I'm met with this feeling of you know , and I'm thinking of one guy in particular . His name's Adam , and I just remember the first time I met him , he was just like man I cannot keep doing this . He was depressed . His energy was so weird .
No offense , I'm sure he'd be cool if I said that , and I don't know if you remember , but the day that we spoke you were not in a good mood . You are completely different . The energy that you give out right now is completely different . You are annoyed , I don't know . You are different . But now , yeah , you're just killing it . So love to see it .
And I remember speaking to him a few months later and man , I just couldn't believe it was the same person . It was almost like his personality was there , but it was covered with this dark cloud .
So when I was on the phone to him , sure it was the same person , but it was like , just it was weird and after a few months of not drinking alcohol it was like it lifted . He was totally different .
My testosterone levels have recovered . I've lost upwards of 45 pounds . I'm down to 13% body fat . I'm as physically fit , if not more so , than I was in my 20s . My relationships with my kids and my wife have gotten better .
I've actually even had my kids open up and flat out tell me how much better and how great it is to be around me now and how it wasn't that fantastic for them before . I'm doing better at work . I can think so much faster and more clearly to get things done efficiently , so I can take on so much more . My short-term memory is completely solid .
Man life is fantastic .
Now I feel so much better , and it was just a surreal moment . And it's not just happened once . This has happened hundreds of times . So when I say you become somebody different , I actually mean you become who you really are . But people notice this . It doesn't happen in a vacuum . There was another chap that joined a program called Kevin .
This was a guy that drank daily for 40 years . He was one of the more severe cases .
I would probably drink about two handles of vodka , along with maybe one or two cases of beer a week would be the average . Sometimes I'd mix it up and throw in a bottle of tequila or say , hey , I'm going to take a break and drink wine , but then I'd drink a lot of wine , so it was always something . It was going from one thing to the next .
And I remember when I interviewed him and asked him about his story and how he's changed , he told me that his wife called him Kevin 2.0 . And he said I feel the best that I felt in years . This was a retired man .
My marriage has definitely been so much better . My wife and I are just on a completely different level . I think I get along with my friends better . I feel as though my personality's been coming out more , because it's been so hidden behind that I'm talking to people more , I'm anxious to get out of the house , I get excited about stuff . I was just .
It was just like being kind of in a big fog , in a big cloud , and physically I mean I feel so much better . I mean I kind of feel the best I have in years .
And it was the same thing with him as well . I remember the first day of speaking to him . Then , speaking to him a few months later , I'm like man , you are awesome . You have changed so much . But people notice this change . Friends notice it , family members notice it , partners notice it , especially people close to you .
And after not drinking for a prolonged period of time , there's this beautiful moment where you become almost unrecognizable to who you were when you were drinking . And it's not that you become somebody totally different , right , you become who you've always been , but you're removing this nasty , disgusting drug out of your life . Which leads me to the second point .
And when this happens , when this shift happens , when that black cloud lifts and you remove this poison that was slowing you down , you start to remember what you're capable of . See , I don't care how successful you are , I don't care if you've got $100 million in a bank . You've sold 10 businesses , you've got 10 amazing children .
I don't care If you have done this whilst drinking alcohol , you have been operating at less than 100% . For some of us it's 80% , for some of us it's 50% , for some of us it's 10% , but just because you've built a good life and drank alcohol at the same time does not mean that you've given it all .
And when you stop drinking alcohol you start to remember what you're truly capable of . I remember I had a period of my life where I didn't drink . I used willpower . It was seven , eight , nine months and I spent a long time drinking . But this was like the longest stretch that I got . And boy it was like I was a machine .
I was so productive , I was so motivated , I was just like go , go , go , go go . And I probably thought I was productive when I was drinking . But then I saw the contrast . Then I saw whoa , okay , this is what I'm really capable of . And after that period I drank again and I couldn't get anything off the ground . I failed a career in London .
I failed another personal training business . I tried to start , I mean , and my life ended up in a bit of a disaster . But then when I stopped drinking again six years ago and this time for real , immediately that version of me that I was like during that seven , eight , nine month period where I didn't drink , it came back .
I was ready , I just had the energy I could go for it . And when you stop drinking alcohol , you'll remember what you're truly capable of . You'll remember how powerful you actually are . Because if you drink alcohol and you've done some good stuff with your life , oh boy , you don't know what you're missing out on .
You are going to achieve so much more , so much more . And I had this thought the other day . I thought can you imagine if we had no alcohol in the world ? Just imagine how many more amazing books we would have had , how many more amazing services there'd be in the world businesses , how much more charity there'd be in the world .
Just think of all the people who had this massive potential in their life but they drank alcohol and they only reached 50% . Just imagine how different the world would be . It's a crazy thought , isn't it ? But when you stop drinking alcohol , you'll start contributing . You'll start being such a better person .
And the third positive is when you drink alcohol , you're kind of on this roller coaster . You'll get good days where you're crushing it and you're doing the right stuff , and then you might have a few drinks that night . Then the next day is not that great and progress never really goes from here to here .
It kind of feels like this , and then you don't really get that far and it's always a little bit up and down . You might have a really consistent week of training and then the next week it's not that consistent . You might work really hard all week and then just write off the entire weekend with hangovers .
But when you don't drink alcohol you get off this roller coaster . Progress and results become linear . You can keep taking one step in , keeps on going up . Now I'm not saying problems aren't going to arise and it's going to be perfectly linear . No , there will be some deviations in that .
But at least those deviations aren't self-inflicted from consuming a drug through consuming a poison . It makes no sense . Why would anybody do that to themselves ? See , your life will change mostly for the better . But there are negatives to stopping drinking . So let's get into those .
So one of the first negatives is something that I've experienced every time I've stopped drinking . This happened one day when I threw up blood on a computer , and it also happened . Oh wait . So this negative is something that's happened every time I've stopped drinking . Don't worry , it's fixable . But what happens when you stop drinking alcohol ?
Is you get this clarity when we drink , it's kind of like we live life with this fog over our eyes . We can't really see things very clearly and then all of a sudden it's like oh , whoa , wait a minute . And this can be a good thing , but this is also one of the most painful things that you will deal with , because reality starts to hit you .
I remember when I stopped drinking . I remember I was like mid-twenties and I remember seeing these 18-year-olds , these 17-year-olds that were just way more successful than me , and when I was drinking I wasn't really that bothered . And then it hit me . I thought , leon , you're years behind everybody .
I remember listen , I know it's a little bit sad to admit , but I remember going on Facebook and LinkedIn and looking at people I went to school with and I'm thinking , whoa , I've just been left behind . And I know that might not be the best example , that might not fully resonate with you and it might be a little bit just not be happy with what's reflected .
You might think back to when you were in your 20s and you had a six pack and you were lean and you were healthy , and you're looking back now thinking what's going on ? Where did these love handles come from ? When you're drinking , you sometimes don't even notice this stuff .
You might not notice that the relationship with your kids isn't perfect Because , rather than face these issues , when we drink , we just go into this cycle of escapism . We feel a negative feeling , we see a problem and what do we do ? We don't necessarily go and attack those problems , no , we drink , but then we forget about the problems .
And after doing this for a long period of time , again and again and again , what do you think happens ? Well , they build up and then , when we stop drinking , it hits us . Now , personally , I kind of liked this .
I liked this pain , I liked this feeling of oh man , this sucks , because I knew I wasn't drinking then , so I knew I had the power to change it . But this leads me to the second negative , because when this happens and it will at this point you need to do something and you need to accept full responsibility for what's happened right now .
You are where you are right now because of decisions that you made , nobody else made , that you made years ago , and guess what happens next ? You need to deal with it . And this is really the second negative is that you'll see the pain , you'll see whatever chaos has been created , and now you actually have to do things .
You have to take action , you have to face the things that you might've been putting off for years . You might have to step foot in the gym after 10 years . You might have to go and sit with a marriage counsellor , some things .
It might be too late , there might be health consequences and you can do positive things for your life , but sometimes it's that's it and you're going to have to start
¶ Confronting Pain Without Alcohol
taking action . See , when you stop drinking alcohol , pain is going to come up . But when you don't drink that poison and you start to attack these problems , then the pain starts to subside .
But the one thing you don't want to do is when you start feeling pain , when you start feeling stress and when you start realizing there are a lot of problems in your life , for the love of God , do not go back to the bottle , do not go back to the cycle of escapism . Because what are you doing here ? What's the alternative ?
You feel the pain and fix the issues , or you feel the pain and you think I don't want to feel this way . I don't want to accept reality for what it is . I'm going back to the bottle and guess what happens ? I mean , get arrested .
For our wife to walk out , for our kids to hate us , or are we actually going to start fixing the problems that we've created ourselves . Which leads me to the final negative .
And the third and final negative is this there really are no negatives to not drinking alcohol , and I know I've just kind of said some real things that will happen , but they're not true negatives . They're actually incredibly positive things being equipped to deal with issues that you might have been putting off for decades .
Sure , it's painful , but I promise you this if you deal with these issues that have come up and if you don't go back to that cycle give it a month , give it two months and just watch how you feel you will feel so much more in control of your life that it becomes almost impossible to go back to drinking , because all the negatives are actually in alcohol .
There are only negatives from drinking and only good things happen when we stop . Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking Podcast by Sober Clear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit .