The Truth About Alcohol (Why Quitting Feels So Hard)

When You Become Someone That Doesn’t Drink Alcohol Don’t Listen to People Sitting in the Cheap Seats

I never leave the Coliseum. Blood. Sweat. Heads. Arms. Feet. I never leave because you are here, and I want to fight alongside you. We need each other, you and I, because we’re all alone. There is a volcano inside of every one of us. Sleeping. Shhh. Ridicule us if you dare. We will explode like cans of Coke in the pockets of the loop da loop riders. How fucking dare you. There is no problem here. We can see! We can see! You are so far back in the cheap seats you’re blind and deaf to the truth. To you, we are oddities washed up on a beach; struggling to breathe. Huddle around. Stare. Raise your sticks and stones. Poke. Throw. Laugh. Kick. Whisper sweet ‘who the fuck do they think they are’ into each other’s ears. Break our bones. We have never been more alive. Give us the 'thumbs down'. Share your 'dislikes'. Do it. We understand because we were you. But now we are us. The people that don’t drink alcohol. TRUTH. AWARENESS. FREEDOM. Those are our weapons. 'Resistance' is the enemy. And we're not afraid to fight. We do it daily. We’re making the greatest change in our lives, one that will impact the world in many beautiful ways. We can’t even see you. We can’t even hear you. Who are you? And this is what we talk about in today’s podcast. The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And we Refuse to be Anonymous Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life Including Your Addiction To Alcohol

Hot tears track like lava down the side of my face. How could she do this to me? Are the angels playing ‘Fortnite’? I need them to see me; to see this travesty. The pressure is intense. I feel like the Hoover Dam. Plain. Jane. Arms like thorny stems, tearing her apart each time I reach out for a hit of love. A fever starts to build. I feel like a slave, but to what, to whom? My daughter tells me that she’s a turtle. “I’m blind like a turtle, Dad.” I tell her that turtles aren’t blind, try being a mole. Then I go back on the attack. Or is it the defence? Am I a mole? Turtle? I am certainly blind. I cannot see a way out of this mess. The only thing I see is the bottle, like a Siren, screaming sense, manifesting meaning, puking up purpose. Why is it so difficult to admit that I am wrong? Why can’t I find that grain of truth? Why do I allow my beliefs to blindfold me, and my values viscerate me? Why can’t I take responsibility? Full responsibility? 100% responsibility? And that’s what we talk about during today’s podcast. The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And we Refuse to be Anonymous Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

TV Presenter & Poker Pro Liv Boeree on Positive Thinking, Probabilistic Thinking, And More

During my time at the PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship in the Bahamas I interviewed the professional poker player, TV presenter and effective altruist, Liv Boeree. While the content begins with a conversation about poker, it quickly turns into a discussion on life focusing on positive and probabilistic thinking, loneliness and friendship. Here is the article I refer to during the interview: How an 18th-century priest gave us the tools to make better decisions https://bit.ly/2QJhXVQ The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And we Refuse to be Anonymous Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

Death

I flex my muscles. Wedge my feet into the blocks. Stare at the finish line. Breathe. I find the courage to look right. Gravestones bent at ungodly angles. Holding a whip that looks like a telephone cord in one hand, and a bottle of bloodshed in the other, cigarette ash hanging from a hole in the wall, is death. The ash breaks. The first speck hits the ground. The smell of cordite fills the air. I am off. So is he. Cackling like Coca-Cola. Will I spend enough time with my children. Will I spend enough time with my wife. Will I travel the world. Will I learn to pour some sugar on my anger. Will I write a book. Will I create a movement of a million people that don’t drink alcohol. Will I? Will I? Or will it beat me? Will this thing get to me before I get to it? And then I get it. It hits me like that first snort of Amyl nitrate. I stop. Death does too. I hunch down, breathing hard, my heart trying to play tag with the floor. A cackle of my own frees itself from my lungs, and I can’t stop laughing. I look over at death, and he begins to disappear, slowly, surely, like an ice cube melting under the searing heat of the poison that felt so familiar for so many years. Only one gravestone remains. I walk over to it. “Lee Davy” And beneath. “Stop Running.” And that’s what we talk about in today’s podcast. The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And we Refuse to be Anonymous Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

My Life Was Full

Another poem by Rupi Kaur from 'The Sun And Her Flowers' that spoke to me. “You were mine, and my life was full you are no longer mine, and my life is full.” How does it speak to you? Tell me. Ask others. The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And we Refuse to be Anonymous Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

The Gang

A bucketful of crabs. One tries to leave. The rest drag it back down. I guess crabs like the company of other crabs. I walk through the door, hoping that ‘my spot’ is free. The long table, the one I never use because I can't 'plug-in', is full, as it typically is at this time of the morning. Crabs sit in every seat. Faces twisted and contorted by the ravages of wind, rain and sea. Eastern European methinks. United by coffee, nostalgia, and a healthy dose of 'Once Upon a Time.' Laughter. Seriousness. Presence. One of them breaks free for a smoke, and unlike the crabs in the bucket, one or two join him. The world is a whirlwind of road rage, yet inside this building, there is unity. Love. Camaraderie. The only blood comes from the beetroot hidden deep beneath layers of chicken, lettuce and tomatoes. There is not an alcoholic drink in sight. There is no need for a bouncer on this door. There is no list. You can all come in. Communion. And it’s not just the craggy old crabs. I look around and see people of all shapes and sizes debating the fashionable attributes of a Levi jacket, the best way to build a picket fence, and how to wean a baby from the breast. We think we need alcohol to socialise, and yet, everywhere you look, people are managing without it. There's not a shot in sight. It’s not the drug that creates the anticipatory delight of a night out. It’s the feeling of freedom, and the possibility of connection. Alcohol offers no freedom. Each drink disassociates you from the world. Blink. You're a zombie; wheelchair-carcass, phlegm hanging from the corner of your mouth like a stalactite; hypodermic needle sticking out of your arm trying desperately to find the floor. You don't need alcohol to have a good time. You only THINK you do. And it’s this lie, this con, this red herring that we talk about in today’s Alcohol & Addiction podcast. The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And we Refuse to be Anonymous Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

1,000 Steps

A Mexican wave begins when one person stands up. The skyscrapers reach out to the stars brick by brick. The hairdresser makes you look beautiful by killing one split end at a time. Becoming someone that doesn’t drink alcohol is the same. One step at a time. Registration for the February TTAA Taster ends in three days. The TTAA Taster is designed to help you become someone that doesn’t drink alcohol for one month - one day, one assignment, one thought at a time. Take your first step, today. Head to www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk and sign up. The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And we Refuse to be Anonymous In our bid to improve value for you at TTAA, we would be grateful if you could spend a few minutes answering this brief survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5XLGM3G Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

You Drink The Average Amount of Alcohol as The Five People You Spend The Most Time With

John, my friend in his 70s who believes an alien race rules the world, explains how he’s immortal, and has lived numerous lives, and remembers all of them. I can remember two lives, barely. In my first life, I was someone who drank alcohol. I lived in a small mining village of 3,000 people, I worked on the railroads, and I spent my time drinking in the Wyndham Pub and my house, alone, or with a small group of friends. That life doesn’t feel like moonlight fighting for survival amid the rays of the morning sun. It feels like an abortion. A life, torn from me; so painfully, that my memory protects me by cranking up the volume on AFAF FM. I have a new life; one where I am someone that doesn’t drink alcohol. I am a vagabond. I interview professional poker players to pay the bills, and I help people save their lives in my spare time. I work hard, and spend my time playing with my family, or eating and philosophising with my friends. I didn’t compose a new tune. The new tune composed a new me. When I became someone that doesn’t drink alcohol I didn’t stop there. Incrementally, laughing Buddha by laughing Buddha, I made changes in my life that aligned with the energy of someone that didn’t drink alcohol. Environment. Career. Love. Health. Spirituality. Relationships. I don’t spend time with the people from my first life. I love some of them, others not so much, and I am sure if I were to see them again we would enjoy a nostalgic whale spout of a blow. But I don’t miss them. I hardly remember them. It’s as if I fell asleep on a bed of poisoned poppies and woke up somewhere and someone else. Jim Rohn proposed that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Jen Sincero said you earn the average of the five people you spend the most time with. I believe you drink the average amount of alcohol as the five people you spend the most time with. Who are your five? The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And we Refuse to be Anonymous In our bid to improve value for you at TTAA, we would be grateful if you could spend a few minutes answering this brief survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5XLGM3G Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

Stand Up Comedy Genius Norm MacDonald on Being Someone That Doesn't Drink Alcohol

David Letterman referred to Norm Macdonald as “maybe the smartest guy in comedy,” and Jerry Seinfeld described his approach as “sophisticated dumbness.” I interviewed the former Saturday Night Live star in the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas during a poker tournament he was playing in. During the interview, I learned that Macdonald is someone that doesn't drink alcohol and asked if I could also interview him for the AA Podcast, and he agreed. A few nights later, I watched Macdonald perform standup, and it was the funniest show I had ever seen. What made the moment special, was Macdonald had made a significant portion of his act about our interview. We talked about a lot of stuff in our 25-minutes together, but the main takeaway for me was the ability to speak to a creative genius about the difference in performing and writing when drinking and when not, as I know members of the Strive movement worry about making this transition. The interview was very impromptu. I have missed a few minutes off the video, and there is a lot of background noise as we are in the middle of the poker room, but I am sure it won’t take away from the pleasure of listening to one of the world’s stop standup artists talking about why he doesn’t drink alcohol. Norm Macdonald has two shows on Netflix: Norm Macdonald Has a Show, and Hitler's Dog, Gossip & Trickery. Check out today's podcast here. The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholics, And We Refuse to be Anonymous Join Us & Our Community TTAA Taster: http://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster TTAA Intensive: https://www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAAIntensive Strive Community: https://strive.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/

The 6 Reasons People Don't Take the Taster to Become Someone That Doesn't Drink Alcohol

I don’t need you or your experiences to be someone that doesn’t drink alcohol. I’m not in a hurry to be someone that doesn’t drink alcohol. I don’t have the time to be someone that doesn’t drink alcohol. I am not willing to invest money in being someone that doesn’t drink alcohol. I don’t have the desire to be someone that doesn’t drink alcohol. I don’t trust you, or your experiences. Why are you not leaping? Choose an excuse. Cross it out. Think again. What’s the real reason you’re not taking the February 1 Taster? If you want to join us and get to feel what it's like to have no alcohol in your system for a month, then here is the link: www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk/p/TTAA%20Taster