I quit drinking alcohol for 6 years and learned THIS

Six and a half years ago , everything in my life changed after I quit drinking alcohol , and today , in this video , I'm going to show you how alcohol is the one thing standing in the way of the life of your dreams . I spent 10 years struggling to stop drinking . I tried going to AA meetings . I tried begging God to help me .

I was using willpower , stopping and starting all the time . Sometimes I'd go a day , sometimes a month , sometimes six months , but something would always lead me back to the drink . But six and a half years ago , everything shifted , and today I want to talk to you about the amazing things that have happened in my own life since stopping .

I'm not trying to boast , I'm not trying to show off . What I'm trying to do is show you proof that stopping drinking will give you everything that you want , because the transformation that's happened in my own life is exactly what I dreamed about . My name is Leon Sylvester , I'm the founder of SoberClearcom , and this is my story .

Now I'm going to keep it brief for my backstory because I want this video to really focus on the benefits and the good things that have happened in my life . But I spent about 10 years drinking . I had periods of my life where I drink every single day . I had periods of my life where I'd drink every single day .

I had periods of my life where I'd binge drink , but the common theme was alcohol was the one thing that was holding me back and I was motivated to stop . It was just that nothing worked for me . None of the conventional ways worked , but basically what happened was six and a half years ago . Everything just shifted in my worldview .

I stopped seeing alcohol as something that enhanced my life , that made it better . I stopped looking at other drinkers and wanted to be like them , be a normal drinker . I stopped this idea of having just one drink and I basically fixed my understanding and my worldview of alcohol .

Now , how I did this was I used something called first principles thinking , and if you want to understand how that works and how I did it , and how I've been helping hundreds of people to do it as well , you can click the link in the description to access a free video training that will tell you more about how I actually stopped and the method and how it

works . So if you want to learn more about that , definitely click the link down below . A new page will open up . You'll put your name and email address in and then a new video training will start playing . So with that out the way , let me bring it back to day zero . Now for me . Day zero I basically hit this rock bottom .

Now , not everybody gets there , not everybody needs to hit a rock bottom , but I pretty much did , and it was an emotional rock bottom . What had basically happened is I had a period of about six , seven or eight months where I stopped drinking alcohol . I was crushing it . I had my own business , you know . Just , things were going so well .

I ended up drinking again and then , slowly over the next six months , I just destroyed and dismantled everything . All the progress and all the success I had built as a non-drinker just slipped away and I felt like I was at ground zero . And one day I woke up with one of the worst hangovers I'd ever had . It was like 5pmm .

When I woke up and I just felt like if I continue doing this , I'm dead . Now to cut a long story short over the next few days I fixed my worldview and then just made a decision Again . If you want to learn more about that , there's the video training in the description . But for me , day zero sucked . I felt so bad .

I felt defeated Now because my sleep was all over the place . The next few days were kind of lame as well , but within a couple of days , for me things just turned a corner because I knew I wasn't going to drink again . I just knew I had to change and I knew that this was it . I made a commitment to myself like never before .

It wasn't an attempt , it wasn't a trial , I wasn't trying this anymore . I was done . I was moving on with my life and it was so liberating . Now , during that first week , I was working in a restaurant , trying to rebuild my finances , just rebuild my life .

And I remember , within the first couple of days , I remember going to one of the members of staff and I said his name . I won't say his name , but I said dude , I'm done , I'm not coming out tonight , I've stopped drinking . And he looked at me and he just said again but you know what I did . I stopped myself . I said you know what ?

I don't need your validation or your affirmation that I'm going to do this . I know in my heart I'm doing it . So I didn't tell anybody else , I didn't tell my family , I didn't tell any of my friends . I told one friend , actually , but only because he was also stopping drinking , because I knew in my heart it was done .

So what happened after the first week ? Well , day seven to 90 , my confidence started coming back . I started to feel like the old me again . My energy came back , my clarity came back . I started thinking , okay , I've got this big win under my belt . Now I've actually stopped drinking .

And because I knew I truly stopped and I knew it wasn't a trial , it was like I've done it . So I felt like I'd already won . A lot of people they like to count the days and they feel like on day 90 , day you know , year one , that's when they're a non-drinker . But I didn't feel that way . I knew on day zero it was a done deal .

So I started thinking like , okay , I'm back , what can I do ? And at the time I'd already built a personal training business . It went really well . I was making good money gym . I got a couple of clients . Then I quit my job in the restaurant and went all in on my own business and I just went into this psycho mode .

I felt like I was making up for lost time . I felt like finally I've got the energy back , I've got the confidence back , the clarity's back , I'm making the most of this . I'm just going to attack .

So I remember waking up at like six in the morning going to the gym and up at like six in the morning going to the gym , and I think I used to annoy the other personal trainers because a lot of them would like to talk and sit around in the staff room . Hey , it is what it is .

They already had a successful business and I was just on the gym floor talking to everybody , feeling good about myself and just trying to help as many people as I can to build my business . I got back to lifting again . The bloating went down , the fat went down .

I was working with an online fitness coach and pretty much all my free time was spent taking courses , leveling up my skills , learning about health and fitness , marketing business . I joined some online community and everything was just going in the right direction . I was feeling awesome .

Anyway , it was around three or four months into things , but winter was arriving in England and I don't know if you have ever been in an English winter , but it sucks . You know , the sky is white . I'll put a picture of what it looks like now . But everything feels so gray and dull and it's freezing and there's this cold wind .

And me and my girlfriend just came back from Japan this winter . We went skiing I'll talk about that later on but there there wasn't much wind and the sky was blue and I'm like I thought I hated the cold . I actually quite like the cold . What I hate is an English winter . So I'm sat there and then my friend gives me a call .

He's like oh , leon , I'm in Bangkok . He had an online business . And I'm like how is it ? He's like I mean , I'm walking around in t-shirts and shorts in December and I'm like that sounds pretty good right now .

But because I'd got the win of stopping drinking under my belt and because I had the momentum with personal training , I said do you know what Screw this ? I looked at my life and I played it out . I said , okay , let's say I stay with personal training . Where is this going ? And I was living in Oxford . I didn't really like Oxford .

I had a lot of bad memories from my drinking days and I played it out . I said , well , you know , I'm going to get more clients and then I probably need to open my own gym and have a a gym . It just wasn't what I wanted . I wanted to be able to choose where I lived and not be restricted . So I YOLOed it right .

I booked a one-way flight to Chiang Mai . My buddy that was in Bangkok also came to Chiang Mai and , funnily enough , while I was doing the personal training business , I met a man online called Dan , who was doing an online business and he also lived in Chiang Mai . And I thought do you know what ? This is it ? I'm doing it . And Dan was very encouraging .

He was like just book a flight . I don't think he thought I'd do it . But then , a couple of weeks later , we're meeting for a coffee in Chiang Mai and I'm like I'm here and what I did at the beginning was I just spent basically a full year freelancing , because when I got to Chiang Mai , I had a vision .

I knew that I wanted to do businesses , websites , youtube , whatever and I just made myself as useful as I could . So that first year I was just basically working for people who were where I wanted to be . I didn't care about the money , I cared about the skills and the experience . All I was there to do was figure out how this game worked .

So I just worked like crazy that first year . It was just nonstop . Also , I got into a relationship this year as well with my current partner today , or and I was feeling great that first year . I just felt like I'm finally getting momentum again .

My life is going in the direction that I've always wanted it to go and for the first time in years , there was no more two steps forward , one step back , three steps forward , five steps back . Now , don't get me wrong , not every day was perfect , but it just felt like every day was building upon every other day .

So I've been living in Chiang Mai for about a year at this point , and there was a transitional moment . I was in some YouTube or Facebook groups and in the Facebook group there was a guy called Nick Nimmin and Nick Nimmin had like at the time I think he had like 800,000 subscribers and I saw he was in Chiang Mai . So I said do you know what Screw it ?

I'm going to message him . And he was so kind . He was just like , yeah , I'll meet to you about YouTube , I'll help you out , just like a guy with a good heart . And he gave me some work . He was like I was writing scripts for him .

You know he's paid me a hundred dollars here and there because , again , I was learning , I was getting around the people who were where I wanted to be . Anyway , every time I'd meet Nick , he'd be like you know , you should be doing your own thing . You can't keep doing freelance work for all these other people .

And he was very encouraging because he knew what I wanted , but I was afraid to take the leap to do my own thing . And he kept saying it and eventually he owed me $300 . And I said do you know what ? Man , don't give me that money until I've made some YouTube videos on my own channel . He's like all right deal . So I made three videos .

I made one about not drinking . I made one about some powerlifting I was doing at the time and I made another one , and I can't even remember what the other one was , but it doesn't matter because the video I made about not drinking alcohol , because it had been one year at this point . It got like 5,000 views .

It got hundreds of upvotes on Reddit and I was just like whoa , wait a minute . Like this is crazy . People were leaving comments like this is just like me . Well done . I resonate with your story so much and if I hadn't made that video , I definitely wouldn't be in this position today . But I was vulnerable . I just shared my experience . It was raw .

I think I even cried in that video because it was a moment of like I've done it . It's been a year . Anyway , over the next few months I still wasn't quite sure what to do and I remember I was doing a border run . So you're not supposed to do it like this , but everybody does it .

You know the immigration don't care in Thailand , but what people do is they'll get a car or they'll do some tour and they'll cross the border , they'll get a stamp on their passport , they might stay a night in another country and then they'll come back in and then you get like another 60 days or something .

Anyway , I remember doing it and I had a motorbike at the time . I had this Kawasaki , this Z650 . I'll put a picture of it on the screen now and I remember riding it like probably like 400 miles to the border and then 400 miles back . It was a savage , savage journey , but it was so much fun because you're riding a bike through Thailand .

It feels so freeing , and I remember I used to ride my bike and then that's where I'd get these moments of calm and these ideas would just flash into my head and because I was so kind of scattered and not sure what to do , this epiphany just popped into my mind and it was just actually help people , talk to them , see what's going on .

So I came back home and I said you know what ? That's what I'll do . So I made another video about not drinking , and then I started joining some Facebook groups . I started connecting with people , I started talking to them , asking them what are you struggling with ? What's going on ?

And then I decided to put everything that I knew about stopping drinking into some little video course and I think at the time I had like 50 people in a Facebook group that I was trying to help and I gave all of them this course for free . I don't think a single person took the course and I was just like man , what am I going to do with my life .

I'm not sure what path to go down . And in the course I spoke about first principles , thinking , reframing alcohol . This is how I've done it . Here's how you can do it .

And I remember after maybe a month or so , one guy just emailed me bit of the video now but it's like pouring these expensive bottles of like brandy or whiskey down the drain , just like Leon . That was the best thing ever I am done . And I remember showing my girlfriend and I got full body goosebumps . I was like no way , this is it .

So I knew my message worked , it had changed somebody's life and that was like the turning point where I was like right , this is serious , this can help a lot of people . There is serious value here . So from years one to three , that was it . I just went all in . I started working with more people and then COVID hit .

Now , covid was a blessing in disguise , because I ended up getting this amazing villa in Koh Samui , which is an island in Thailand , and this villa is just . It was unreal and I'm not joking . It was like 20% of the original price and I was like , oh my days . Wow , I can live in a place like this . You know , really locked in on making videos .

We started getting more traffic . I started working with more people , more results started coming in . And then I built a program . So I built the Sober Clear program and what it is today this system of first principles , thinking , reframing of alcohol , support , coaching , community and I just locked in . I said no to everything .

Every weekend , my best friend was like Leon , are you coming to the beach ? And I'm like no , bro , I've got to work , I've got to get this stuff done . At this point I started investing in more coaching . I probably spent like $30,000 on coaching and getting help and finding mentors . At this point I got featured in Men's Health , which was just surreal .

I couldn't believe it . The relationship was going amazing . We were doing all sorts of fun things together and also I was powerlifting . So I was training with somebody who I'd actually followed online for years .

We became friends , which was also super surreal , and I really started realizing , in that year , one to three mark , that I was becoming the person who I'd always wanted to be . I was finally working on my own thing , I was creating content , I was helping people . I was the strongest I'd ever been . I was in a relationship .

I was like , oh my days , it's happening . Anyway , fast forward to around years three to five and the momentum just carried on building . I ended up bringing my whole family three to five and the momentum just carried on building . I ended up bringing my whole family out to Thailand . I had my mum , my brother , my nana , my cousin , my auntie .

One of my cousins couldn't make it , but I paid for the whole trip and I was like this is a dream come true . I can't believe I'm doing this At this point . I started CrossFit . I started getting better at cardio , I started losing a bit of fat , I was getting in better shape and I just felt more focused than ever .

Another big thing I did at this time was me and my girlfriend . We paid off my mom-in-law's mortgage . It wasn't a large amount of money , but it was just like oh my days , like wow , I'm able to do this for other people now , when I'd spent 10 years being so selfish , so self-centered , it was so good to finally be able to do things for other people .

I helped my grandparent with retirement so she didn't need to worry about money . And again , I'm not saying all of this stuff to boast . I'm just showing you the amazing things that happened after stopping drinking , and I just spent so much time just locked in going as hard as I can . So now let's bring it back to year five , to the present day .

So now I actually live in Dubai . So I moved to Dubai , where there's no income tax to pay here , which is pretty good , especially with an online business why not ? It's remote . That's what I wanted . And then also , there's a lot of amazing people that I've met here .

I've built an amazing network of good friends , other entrepreneurs , and now I've got a small team of people who are helping me with the mission of just building the best programme and giving the best support that we can . And 2024 was a year of experience . I'd spent so long just locked in grinding building things that this year we lived a little .

So we've done a bunch of travel this year . I took my girlfriend skiing in Japan . We've been to Seoul , we did six weeks in America . I met up with the coach in the program , so I have a coach called Joe who helps run the program . You can see a picture of us here on the screen . We went to Vegas together . We've now got almost 500 clients .

Also , in this time , I've generated 20 million views online on this YouTube channel , which is the most viewed YouTube channel in the world for stopping drinking . Jordan Peterson tweeted my stuff and it's just crazy .

The life of my dreams became a reality after stopping drinking , and I wanted to share the wins with you , because I know some of you have been following me since that first video I'm sure there's a couple of you but this is what happens Once you get momentum after stopping drinking , everything just starts building upon the thing you did last , so there's no more

roller coaster . So I didn't want to make this a boastful video , because I want my story to be your story . Yours is going to be different , right , but I want you to see what is possible in your life as well . I promise you the life of your dreams is right around the corner . Stick on this path , you won't regret it .

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 .