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 .
All right , guys , today we've got Gordon joining us , so Gordon hasn't drank for six months . He's one of my clients , the members of the Sober Clear program . He's kindly agreed to come on today to share his story , to inspire you guys , give you some motivation . He's over in Washington state .
He's a building contractor , a husband and a father of two amazing daughters and I think you guys are going to love this . So welcome Gordon . Thank you so much for coming on here today .
Yeah , thank you , Leon .
Yeah , it's good to have you . So , yeah , let's start at the beginning . So what we'll do is we'll talk about what things were like , then we'll talk about the turning point and when you were like enough is enough , we'll talk about the transformation and then we'll talk about what life is like now , and then you can then share any advice you want for everybody .
So , yeah , should you want for everybody . So , yeah , should we start at the beginning ? Sure , perfect . So yeah , just go for gordon , like what was drinking like before you decided to change .
So I drank for a long time , started , uh , you know , as teenager , young adult , um , thinking it was the uh , the cool thing to do , the right thing to do , and everybody did it , or most people did it , and just kind of went through my life .
You know , I had a good job , went to school , had a good job , raised a family , but the alcohol just got in the way of some things and I managed to function and , you know , carry on with everything and , as time went on , wasn't enjoying it as much and was thinking , ah , you know , it's not the right , not the right thing , I just don't feel good , I do
stupid things .
And , um , I thought , well , so I started on kind of a quest to stop drinking or cut down drinking , and , um , it , uh , I would stop for a while , start back up , stop for a while , start back up , maybe a few days , maybe I'd take sometimes a month off , but it was always kind of go back to it and thinking that I was missing something when I wasn't
drinking . And so I'd already , kind of the last couple previous years , kind of , I think , deep down , wanted to stop drinking . And so I was looking at different .
I'm into some health pods and I was looking up I am interested in health and whatnot and I was looking up you know different things and Leon's podcast came up and it just kind of it just kind of hit home and I thought maybe this , it sounds different and maybe this could be you know for me , and I decided to give him a call and give it a shot and have
him look back . It's been great . Everything's gotten better .
We'll get to there . Let's just we'll get to that bit . But so when you were drinking , was there like a point where you realized that's it , I need to change . Can you remember ?
In the last couple of years . Yes , the relationships with my daughters and my wife , some clients at work just wasn't as good as it could be .
Yeah , I remember when we spoke , that was the number one thing for you was you wanted to be better and be more present and be there in your relationships .
Yes .
And when you were drinking . How much were you drinking ? How often was it like what ?
so when you were drinking , like , how much were you drinking ? How often was it so in the last couple years ? It was , um , almost daily , um , except unless I was , you know , saying , okay , I'm not going to drink for a month .
And so every six to eight months I would take a month off and just not drink for a month and , um , uh , maybe a couple years ago , drank more than that . Um , I was a beer drinker and , uh , would you know , start in the the evening and go to the garage or do , uh , you know go .
I was always home and um , and then I'd kind of I'd do stuff , but I would just think I needed something to drink to , uh , to to do the stuff so I think so for you .
It had been in your head for a long time about stopping , but then the the final two years , that's where it was like you think good't good .
That is correct , yes .
Yeah , and what's interesting is I've got a question for you . So when you'd stop for a month and then go back to it , would it be like a rebound where you'd end up drinking more ?
Sometimes , yeah , sometimes , and it necessarily wasn't more . But when I went back to drinking I wasn't getting the same enjoyment out of it as I was when I was younger .
Yeah , there might have been some enjoyment younger , or I thought it was enjoyment , and in the last couple of years I could even , you know , not drink that much , but even just have a little , and it would change me , and not for the better .
Yeah , yeah , yeah , a hundred percent , so perfect . So you'd wanted to change , and then you've . You've been listening to podcasts and you found my podcast , and then you were like , ah , this could be different . So what happened then ?
I decided to call Um . I must say it was one of those things I like . It sounds a little too good to be true , but um , I thought you know what ? Um ? I kind of like the style of it . I'm not forced to do it , I chose to do it myself and I liked Leon .
I liked when we first met , not dwelling on the past , what you did before when you were drinking . I liked the fresh start where you just change your thought of drinking . You know your outlook of it and it worked . It works .
So I think maybe it's fair to say you resonated with the message . You were like that kind of makes sense , before we even spoke .
Yeah , for sure .
So you liked the message . So what was maybe like a fear or hesitation that you had before reaching out ?
I think the main hesitation was thinking that I was going to miss out on something . I was going to miss something . Thought the drinking brought about something that you know it had to be there for to have fun .
So for you , it wasn't , it wasn't something to do with , it was an internal thing , right ? It wasn't like yeah , it was like how am I going to be able to live a life without alcohol ?
For sure .
Yeah , I thought well everybody does it .
You know , what am I going to do when I go to a party and what am I going to do when I go do this thing ? And um , yeah , it was kind of and it was just in my own head thinking , you know that I'm smiling .
I'm smiling to myself because it's the exact same for me . It's the exact same for everybody , right ? We've all got the a very similar thing , where it's like how am I going to do anything without this drink that's been there for so long ? And then one of the problems is you'll go a month without drinking because you kept doing a month with willpower .
And when you're using willpower , you want to drink more . So you feel like those months because you're just like not drinking , not drinking , want it more , want it more . So then you start thinking , well , if I do this for six months , you're gonna suck absolutely no .
Yeah , so it's um it and it's just progressively better month by month . Um , it's my view of alcohol . My , my whole view of alcohol has changed in the six months whole view of alcohol has changed in the six months .
Let's go , man , let's go awesome . So then , okay . So then we . So you decided let's give it a shot with leon , let's try this . You work through the modules uh , the first part of the program . What happened then ?
uh , work through the modules . Um , as I was working through the modules , all the information , little lights would go off and like , hey , you know , that was me , or wow , that makes total sense . And so all those little things and it kind of you know , kept me going and all those little lights that went off .
And all those little lights that went off , I was continuing to just feel better , more healthy as time went on . The chat group I've never been one to be a real in chat groups or anything . I'm not a great public speaker or anything . And the chat groups are great , it's great .
That's awesome , man . So the light bulbs were going off and then you never look back Like it's awesome .
So what surprised you most about the process ?
How easy it's become . Nobody , no one , believes me .
I know , I know and it's I't , but it it's a simple program . It really is a simple program and I love talking about it . I could talk , you know , I could talk a long time about different things that I've picked up , and it just makes a lot of sense .
Awesome man . So let's talk about life now and how it's impacted you , your family , your health . You know work , so what changes have happened ? Now Should we start with family , because that's the most important for you .
Sure , my family has more trust in me , way more smoother on the home front . Kids have more trust in me . My wife has more trust in me , just a lot smoother . Take care of the little problems . You're more present in everything you do . Do you just kind of take care of business ?
yeah , heck , yeah . How about , uh , work and business ?
um , I'm a contractor . It can be stressful at times . The stressful times have become easier . I just deal with it better . The stressful times before would be a time where gosh need a couple beers and go get a couple beers and it might have helped for a few seconds and then it didn't help . And so , yeah , business has gotten better . More organized health .
I consider myself kind of a adventure athlete , if you would . I like to ski lots of stuff outdoors mountain bikes , snowmobile , motorcycle ride .
I do a lot of stuff and , um , I enjoy those things um more yeah , and then you went and got your christmas tree primal going out stealing it yeah , that's right , yep up in the hills and I've got a christmas tree on snowmobiles and that was with my family and just more uh , just more present in um in day-to-day family uh activities yeah , love it , love it ,
so you .
So you're more active . Well , I think you're active before , but it sounds like you're . You're active now . What has health changed at all , like weight , mental clarity , anything like that ?
yeah , all the above . Um I've dropped weight . Um my cardiovascular is just , you know , probably the best has been in 40 years . Um just everything , everything about it .
Um , you know , feels , feels , uh , feels better enjoy the things you know that I used to do I still did them , but didn't get the full enjoyment , and so , um , got back to doing some of those things and then , uh , taking it to a little higher level and you mentioned earlier , one of your reservations was uh , socializing without .
How has that been ? But people have been great , supportive and just a better person all around . Yeah , yeah , that's great . Let me ask you this what's the first thing you notice ? Let's say we go through that adjustment period , right .
The first week can be a bit lame , not feeling great Once that had finished , when you were waking up , when you felt good after the first week can be a bit lame , not feeling great once that had finished , when you were waking up , when you felt good after the first week , or however long it was . What was it like ?
describe like how you were feeling it just , it just felt great to wake up . Um , you know , uh , without in a fog , without that cloud over your head , sleep got better and just more ambition you wake up and ready , set go .
Do you feel like there's anything that you can do now that you couldn't do before ?
No , uh , definitely some um some fitness goals that I have um that I'll know I'll accomplish here , coming up or , you know , look into with greater um , you know , insight and um , um , I think things will just business will run a little smoother , um , as in uh , just less stress , it's just a little bit more even keel . The business will run .
And then family um getting back to doing um more things with my family . Um , I always did do things with my family , but there was times where there could be problems because of the drinking , and it's so nice not having those now .
Yeah , I think what can happen is when you because if you've been playing around and stopping starting , stopping starting when you finally tell yourself I'm going to stop , and then you follow through and you stop you kind of start thinking , well , hang on , my health goals , my business goals , I can do it all .
Now I've rebuilt that self-trust and that's massive , absolutely .
You , you hit it , you know , you hit it right on there . You , you do think of things that you might want to accomplish in the future and you think , you know , yeah , I got a better shot now than I did before .
Love it . So back earlier , when you said there were reservations there were , you know . There was the fear of stopping drinking . If you could go back to that version of you , what would you say to them now ? I would say just do it .
I would say , you know , just do it , keep an open mind . Keep an open mind and you know , join your program . If you're serious about it , join program and uh , and get on with it . It is truly um easier than I thought .
The sober clear um program just totally changed my mindset on alcohol yeah , that's where we want to get to right , done , deal , like any other problem in your life , fix it , put it behind you and move on .
For sure .
Yeah .
It feels really good .
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 wwwsoberclearcom .