Stop Drinking Podcast by Soberclear
The Stop Drinking Podcast by Soberclear is here to help you stop drinking alcohol and achieve the life of your dreams. We want to support people getting sober so they can get on with their life without feeling miserable. If you want to learn more about stop drinking coaching, head over to https://www.soberclear.com/
Stop Drinking Podcast by Soberclear
THIS Got Me Sober From Alcohol For 4.5 Months
In today's episode we're learning how Sean stopped drinking alcohol without AA or willpower. He shares his story in this podcast! There is definitely some stop drinking motivation in this episode!
Want results like Sean? Make sure to click to book a Roadmap call by clicking the link below!
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📌 In this interview we discuss:
What Sean's life was like before the Soberclear program
What Sean's drinking was like
What Sean had tried to do in the past before the Soberclear program
Why Sean decided to join Soberclear
How was Soberclear different to other programs?
What Sean's life looks like now (business, family life, health, spirituality)
Advice Sean would give to others
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🔥 100% FREE SHORT MOVIE: How To Make Controlling Alcohol 🍺 Feel Like A Flick Of A Switch In Your Brain: https://www.soberclear.com/dark-control-now/
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.
Speaker 2:Okay, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the channel. So today we've got Sean joining us. Sean's coming from Orlando, Florida. He's now four and a half months sober. He's kindly agreed to come and share his story today. When's the last time you went four and a half months without a drink, Sean?
Speaker 3:The last time, I believe, was about three months and it was probably about a year ago. It wasn't completely sober like I am now. I was still subsidizing with other little means of not being clear-minded a lot of little pharmaceutical gummies, stuff like that. My mind was never completely clear like it is now.
Speaker 2:So, first time going four and a half months totally sober yes, awesome man, love it. So, yeah, what we'll do, sean, is we'll talk about your experience so what life was like when you were drinking, how it's been since you've changed your perception, reframed alcohol and then, most importantly, talk about the great things that have been happening over the past four and a half months. Sounds good, awesome man. So, yeah, just fill us in. So what was life like when you were drinking? And, yeah, just put us through an average day.
Speaker 3:So I mean I had a little bit of problem. I noticed I had a problem. I've talked about it openly for a couple of years. I went to the point to where I would. I literally fine-tuned it. I got it down to a science, to where I needed to knew what I needed to drink to get where I wanted to be. It knew what I needed to drink to get where I wanted to be.
Speaker 3:It wasn't fun. I was never clear, I was never actually present and it found that I was literally just erasing the day to get onto the next day. It didn't really do anything rambunctious, pretty much just stayed at home. Other than that, it was the same thing day in, day out. Felt terrible at the end of the day, felt terrible in the morning. My workouts workouts were subpar. I never went as focused as I needed to be procrastinated on things. Never really um went through with the, the activities that I really wanted to accomplish in life. So you know that created a lot of anxiety. Uh, because never things weren't really getting done. Because it was. It was on like kind of like the back burner. Never really um got to complete what I wanted to complete and it was frustrating because I would always put a focus on, you know, getting a buzz on and then when that list starts increasing and then there's all these projects and tasks, then that creates anxiety 100.
Speaker 3:yeah, I was always anxious. I was always worried about, um you know, did people? Could people smell it on me? Did I look messed up? Was my face red? Could my significant other and friends know that I am at the point of intoxication, that I am right now masked how much I was drinking? It was never in a crazy excess, I never really blacked out. That was when I was moderating my drinking, when I was trying to get it under control, which is the worst thing you can do. A couple of years before that, it was much worse. It was to the point to where I would literally just wake up and then four hours went by and I didn't know what I did or say.
Speaker 2:So your drinking went bad two years ago, and then what happened?
Speaker 3:the previous like the next two years so, yeah, it got to the point where it was a little out of control. So I went ahead and decided to quote unquote work on my drinking. So instead of, you know, drinking it to excess consistently, I kind of figured out how much I needed at a point to where I was still borderline functional throughout my day. You know, I didn't usually drink until after work, although on my days off I would tend to sometimes have a beverage in the middle of the day and then sometimes that creates two days because you know you have a couple beverages, Sometimes you have one extra and then you go ahead and take a nap, wake up, do it again. So that was kind of thing. So the days were still productive.
Speaker 3:I made an excuse out of it. Like that's pretty much all drinking is. You make an excuse. You know you have a bad day, have a drink, have a good day, have a drink, go out, go out with friends, have a drink, go swimming, have a drink, play video games, have a drink, Play video games, have a drink. Everything was an excuse to drink and it was just frustrating. And that kind of began when I was in my 20s. You know all your friends, all they wanted to do was go out and drink. You want to play Mario Kart on the TV, have a drinking contest. Whoever loses have a drink. Same thing. It was just an excuse to get messed up, get inebriated, and then sure it was fun.
Speaker 2:But how taxing was that on my life overall over the decade and a half that I was doing this? Yeah, was there a point?
Speaker 3:where you realized, oh, I can't keep doing this anymore, 100%, and I had talked about it for a couple of years, about how I know I have a problem. I openly admitted that I'm pretty much an alcoholic or borderline alcoholic. I didn't use the word functioning alcoholic. So I think that's kind of silly. That's just an excuse that you give yourself that it's okay to drink, and you know alcohol is one of those drugs, that it's the one drug that won't let you know that you have a problem. It makes you think that you don't have a problem.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, 100%. So then you were trying to motivate yourself and manage it. Were you trying anything?
Speaker 3:else? What do you mean by anything else?
Speaker 3:any other programs, any other methods, medications or anything uh no, I talked to a lot of people, a lot of people that had stopped drinking. I asked them what did they do? And then their excuse not their excuse, their reason was I just kind of just stopped one day. I just had enough and I stopped, um, and I did that. That's when I had that little three month stint where I didn't really drink but I was messing around with. You know, you go to the smoke shop, get those little gummies here and there you get little weed pens. So I was still supplementing for it. I was. I wasn't completely sober, so I still intend, in fact wasn't actually present. My mind was altered and I and I never really, you know, had normal sean conversations. You know, I wasn't really that open, I was still anxious, hiding something and insecure in a sense, because you know you're always thinking, you're kind of paranoid in a sense yeah, so you were, because you still kind of saw alcohol was something that would add something to your life.
Speaker 2:You found a replacement and then you were just using willpower so just switching it around shorts for hours and hours.
Speaker 3:And then I watched a couple of videos and then I ultimately I talked about it, that I saw your video and then a lot of it just started to make sense. And then I saw one where you mentioned the program and then one day my now fiance said we need to get this under control. We need to stop this. You can't keep doing it. You're never here, you're never present, and it was a fact. I had been talking about it for a couple of years and it was about time to make that change. I didn't go visit anything like AA, I kind of just talked to friends, got ideas, and then ultimately I was like I'm going to try this, it doesn't matter what it costs, it doesn't matter what people think, and ultimately no one really knows that I did it except for close friends and family, and that's kind of the best thing.
Speaker 3:And now people are just now starting to notice it's been about four and a half months. They're like, oh, sean's face looks better, he's a lot more fit, he's a lot more focused, and they're realizing there's been a shift, especially when I say no, when they ask me to come out and drink, or when I do go out and drink and I don't drink. Where they go out and drink with them and I don't drink, they're like, oh, that's weird. I remember you were a party guy passing shots around, pounding beers every minute, and I was like, yeah, I'm going to have this sparkling water. Now, of course, there's some peer pressure, there's some things you know. They're always trying to egg on, like, oh you know, quitting is for quitters. That's why I don't, that's why I still drink and I just keep. You know, I amuse them, be like that's great. Um, now I'm on a different path and it's, uh, significantly better and I'm still going, still moving around, moving along.
Speaker 2:So what was like the final straw for you to say I actually need to take action and do something. Can you remember was it? Was it the conversation with your fiance or something else?
Speaker 3:yeah, that was, that was the main draw, for you to say I actually need to take action and do something. Can you remember? Was it? Was it the conversation with your fiance or something else? Yeah, that was. That was the main factor, ultimately I I have been self-reflecting.
Speaker 3:I do see people that I work with and I do see how they are. I see the position that they're in and they had a lot of habits that I had. You know, go home, drink whether they have a cigar or they're smoking something or they. You know, go home, drink whether they have a cigar or they're smoking something or they. You know, they just get completely inebriated. Then the next morning they look and they feel like they did.
Speaker 3:And then I was just like I can't be stuck in the same situation. I can't be stuck in the same job. I can't just keep being. You know, as some people say, an NPC can't keep going around this world not achieving my goals, trying something different. And that's what I did and ultimately, I think it's going to make me a better human in the long run and it's going to not just lift myself up, it's going to lift the people that I love up and it's going to lift my family up. Hopefully, I can end up spreading this to more people and helping them in a way based on how I go ahead and evolved.
Speaker 2:I think you just played it out right. You saw where it was going and you realized if I continue on this path, I'm never going to be the person I wanted to be 100%.
Speaker 3:On top of that, you get a lot of negative thoughts in your mind. I'm sure people that have been drinking have had those negative thoughts. It's not fun to have those. It's not fun to kind of predict what's going to happen One day. Am I just going to get tired of it and all of a sudden I've got um a weapon to my face.
Speaker 3:Or if I wake up in the morning, uh and you know I am not awake, I'm in a different reality. You know, I don't know what happens after, after, uh, life ends, but you never know. One day I could just not wake up or I could do something stupid and go driving. That's one thing that I did a good job of not doing. When I went ahead and had my little fun at the end of the night or on my days off, I did my best to not drive. And the worst thing about it is that there's a gas station a five-minute walk from my house. So you know there was no excuse for me to not have my alcohol, so so I would just walk over there.
Speaker 2:So I think you were kind of in a place where you were ready and then your wife was like a big catalyst. Was there like any fear or hesitation before actually reaching out and asking for help?
Speaker 3:No, no, it was time. It was time. I was time. Two years ago I actually talked to my mom about that. I let her know that I had a problem. I gave her a call and she said, she said, yeah, do it. And she was kind of like my sponsor for it in a sense, so that I didn't have to, you know, have any financial burden on it or have any kind of thing. She's like, whatever you need to do, we'll back you up. You know, just just get done what you need to get done. And then, yeah, I had the support and that's all I needed was a little bit of support, a little bit of push, and then a final, final move to make the call.
Speaker 3:The hardest thing is kind of making the call, making the first leap. It's, some people, is demoralizing to sign a weakness, but ultimately it's's not this. The weakness is to continue drinking, and that's what I've been telling myself for months and months and months before I made the move and it was just time, every single day, just constantly spending money. That's another thing. I had it down to a science point where I knew how much I needed to drink. I knew how much it would cost, um, and it was kind of like a schedule it. It was like a prescription, basically a prescription for a lack of motivation, bad health, and it was one of the worst prescriptions I could have ever. Went ahead and kept doing every single day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it sounds like there was a bit of you had to take like quite a big leap to actually reach out. In the first place you were ready, but then to actually pull the trigger, it's like your ego gets involved, like do I really need help? And then you just said, screw it 100 just took the leap.
Speaker 3:I said I said it needs to be done and it was honestly top five best things I've done in my life and then, without a doubt, I wouldn't go back and do anything else. The results that I've seen just in life physical, mentally and yeah, it's been fantastic.
Speaker 2:Love it, so we got started working together. You went through the first half of the program. Once you finished out what was different to previous attempts?
Speaker 3:program. Once you finished out what was different to previous attempts. It puts you, put it in perspective. Um, and then, before your program, I was watching a lot of videos, a lot of self-help. Um, people might know a couple of those people online. You got the Robert Peterson's, the, I believe Andrew, andrew Hubberman I believe his name is my might be saying that wrong Uh, but they went ahead and explained it.
Speaker 3:And then you went ahead and explained it and you broke it down to the point, to where it's science, it's all science, where it's terrible for you. And on top of that, you look at it, it's everywhere it's in advertisements, it's on billboards, it's on commercials, it's on TV shows. It's nonstop pushed. It's nonstop pushed. And there's a big reason for that. And not to get too, you know, philosophical or religious or anything like that, or throw any kind of a government thing into it or conspiracy theories. But ultimately there's a reason why it's legal, there's a reason why they push it. It just dulls our senses, it keeps us from producing as a human, it prevents us from growing, keeps our mind foggy. And that was just the last step. The last step needed to go ahead and join your program. You broke it down fantastically. It just hit the nail right on the head.
Speaker 2:Thanks, that's awesome to hear. Can you remember the moment when everything clicked for you, where you were like it's done, it's finished.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would say probably around month two. To this day I still think about alcohol. When I drive by the gas station I'm like, oh man, I'm so glad I'm not stopping here again, all these little pit stops here and there, which is very frustrating. And then someone asked me the other day um, are you ever going to drink again? Uh, do you want some? Oh, it's holiday season. Do you want some Coquito?
Speaker 3:You know a lot of Hispanic people had passed out the Coquito when during the holidays and I was like no, I'm not going to have any of that. And she's like, really, I thought you liked it. And I was like, yeah, I really I thought you liked it. And I was like, yeah, I don't think I'm going to have any more alcohol. She goes really, I'm like, yep, for the rest of my life probably. And she hadn't known. She was one of my closer friends at work and outside of work, so she was a little shocked. I'm sure I'll be having some questions from her in the near future because she just found out yesterday, I believe.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, I don't foresee me having anything, hopefully for the rest of my life. I do have a wedding coming up. I plan on doing that sober. I don't know if I'm going to do it California sober, but I'll probably just be. You know, have fun, dance around, maybe take a little bit of pre-workout to get a little pump some Celsius water, stuff like that. So it'll be an experience because, you know, at weddings most people just get completely plastered For some reason. It's a joyous moment, but you do everything you can to not remember it the next day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what you said about the gas station is awesome, because usually when people stop drinking they see alcohol and they're like, oh, I just wish I could have a drink. But it sounds like it's switched for you, where it's like a feeling of relief, like, thank God, I don't need to do that anymore. That's nice, yeah.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent. It was always in the back of your mind. You're always thinking about it. It's just that one extra thing that you're always thinking about. You wake up thinking about it. You're at work thinking about it. You want to leave work early because you want to go ahead and get some booze. You want to take a day off because you want to just get plastered twice throughout the day. Take a nap and do it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no-transcript.
Speaker 3:Well, self-help. Mainly. It allowed me to complete tasks that I had ultimately been putting off. Now I'll be transparent with that point that I did feel very overwhelmed when I stopped drinking, because there were so many things that I wanted to get done, so many things that I've been putting off, so many things that I wanted to do, whether it's little hobbies here and there, gardening, fix up the house, cancel those subscriptions I was paying for for so long that I just haven't bothered calling to cancel.
Speaker 3:And, on top of that, working out, there is in the science that drinking alcohol inhibits muscle growth. I think it was I would say conservatively 45%, and I knew about it. I never really took heed to it. But I'll tell you what the amount of weight that I've lost, the amount of weight that I've lost, the amount of muscle that I've gained, my physical physique not just in my face, my body, my hips, everything's changed, and it was.
Speaker 3:It's just been drastic, very, very drastic, and it feels good looking yourself in the mirror, looking at your eyes, not having to make sure if you smell bad, not having to make sure if you know you still have crusties in your eye when you leave the house, all those, all those things that everyone's you know self-conscious about. You wake up, you know you look good, your clothes fit better, you have more energy. On top of that, I'm going to bed earlier, I'm waking up earlier and, ultimately, that's fun. Wake up, I get more stuff done before the sun rises than most people do in a day, so it's very, very helpful. And, yeah, physical fitness, mental health, personal gains, trying to study self-help that's pretty much what I've become, just trying to be a better person, better human, nicer. I noticed that too is that I am considerably more nicer. I'm calmer and over that. Overall, just overall, confident, a lot more confident.
Speaker 2:I get goosebumps because it took me back to like the first few months. I remember it as well and it was like this rush of like oh, my days, I'm back, I can do all those things I've wanted to do. So I know what you mean about it being overwhelming at the beginning, but it's kind of like a nice feeling because you can just go for it 100% and I had mentioned this during some of the bi-weekly Zoom calls that we would have during your program.
Speaker 3:And I would mention I feel like it's been five or six months when it was actually been two months, because time does go a little bit slower, because I'm not just wasting my day at the end of my day, because your days kind of just go very fast. You know, you have that third, that fourth drink, then all of a sudden you're in bed, then you wake up, your first half your days, a haze, and then you get through it and then you start doing it again, rinse and repeat. You're never actually present and it became very frustrating, not just for me but for my loved ones and, uh it, it's nice to have that weight off my shoulders.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and how has it been with your fiance? Cause it was big for her for you to stop. So what has she made? Any comments? What does she think?
Speaker 3:Oh, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. She, um, she loved me before that. She still loves me now. Um, I also noticed that it's kind of like a chain reaction. It's like, um, it's like me. Stopping has also made her a better person, because she's not upset with me, she's not worried about me. She has improved her life as well around me, which is awesome to see.
Speaker 3:Now we're only four and a half months in Now. You think four years down the road. How much will we accomplish? What will we grow to be? What will I grow to be? Am I still going to be doing the same thing? Am I still going to be in this house? Is it going to be? Am I still going to be doing the same thing? Am I still going to be in this house? Is it going to be a bigger house? So it's just kind of like one day at a time. I do crack my days a little more. I kind of use a calendar more, a little more organized, a little more structured, which is nice. So it's fun. It's fun. It's actually enjoyable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's like an awesome thing that happens that people don't realize. But because you've stopped and you've raised your standards and you're setting a better example to everybody around you, some people are just going to be like yeah, I need to get on what Sean's on, so that's nice that it's happened to your wife.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's nice, it's very nice, it's fun, it's exciting because I I technically was the one that was holding this back and which, which sucks to say, sucks to do around people that you love. But the fact that you allow this little beverage to run your life and run the people around you's life, and just every day, every day was just drink, drink, drink, and now it's not, now it's, I guess you could say, think, think, think. You're constantly thinking on how to be better. You're constantly trying to. What's the next thing I need to do today? What book do I want to read in the future? What's my exercise like? Which is interesting because I actually look forward to my exercises, to the point to where, like, I'll go to bed earlier than I ever did, like, some days I'll be, I'll close my eyes at nine, 30 at night. Usually I'd be up till 1230, one o'clock in the morning, um, and that's always because the intense amounts of, you know, sugar and additives and um from the alcohol.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So imagine, sean, you imagine you've got somebody there that was in your position four and a half months ago, where they're thinking of getting help but they're like a little bit reserved, a little bit scared that you know they're not quite sure. What would you say to that person?
Speaker 3:I would say think of yourself 10 years down the road. Do you want to keep doing this? Are you going to do you want those regrets? The longer you wait, the longer the lasting effects are going to be Not only the fact that you are preventing yourself from improving in life, but you are, in direct correlation, hurting the people around you. So that first step is the hardest. And I'll be transparent. I was ready to stop. So the cold Turkey was no problem.
Speaker 3:Some people might have issues and some people may might have a drink here or there, but ultimately, one step at a time. If it takes you a month to completely stop, but you went from six days a week to three days a week, that's a win. And then ultimately you'll realize, man, those four days that I didn't drink, that with this week, were fantastic. Now I go to two days, now I go to one day and then, all of a sudden, you don't have alcohol in the house ever. You go out to parties, you go out to see friends and family. You don't have alcohol.
Speaker 3:There'll be some questions, but ultimately you're going to be surrounded by people who are like-minded, which is the one way to grow. Surround yourself with like-minded people. You surround yourself with people who don't wanna drink, who wanna stop drinking, who wanna help you, who wanna lift you up. Ultimately, it's the same thing in business, same thing in life you wanna surround yourself with people you wanna be like and it's just kind of it's trying to keep. It's like the train effect Once that first car goes through the station, the next car is going to follow. You're going to keep finding ways to surround yourself with people that make you better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's the big thing that you're saying is, you have to be ready and you have to want it 100%.
Speaker 3:You don't want to do half measures. If you do half measures, you're just going to slide back. There are some people who can just quit cold turkey and they just keep doing their lives. There are people that need help. They need a support group. Alcohol affects everybody differently. It's similar to I'm going to quote this gentleman that's on our meetings same Scott. He goes ahead and says he's allergic to alcohol. Um, alcohol affects everybody differently. For me, if I have alcohol I can't stop, and that's kind of how I was. It's not just one beer, because one beer turns into four beers. Four beers goes turns into a trip to the gas station to get another one. Then all of a sudden I'm inebriated and I feel like terrible the next morning.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And what would you say to somebody that's thinking about doing the Sober Clear program specifically not just general help, but Sober Clear? I would say it's a great alternative, because some people will go to the AA meetings and I feel I've had some research and I've had some people say that it's actually kind of counterproductive. It's kind of like that's kind of like in some sense a half measure. But for the SoberClear program it starts off fantastic. You break it down all the way to the science, to the molecular level, to the chemical level, and then you provide it with a perfect roadmap and then you go ahead and allow a support system with people on Zoom. You have bi-weekly Zoom calls, you have people that you can constantly talk to, people that are lifting up, and it's very, very positive.
Speaker 3:It's very positive. There's very little negative and there's always tips and tricks, not only when it comes to stopping drinking, but how to improve your life as well, because everyone changes. It's a consistent pattern. I noticed in the group chats that people not only stop drinking but they improve their lives in other ways. A lot of it is through health and fitness and that's one way that does keep you off of it, because if you start drinking again. All those gains that you got physically and mentally, they start to go away.
Speaker 1:Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking Podcast by Sober Clear. If you want to learn physically and mentally, they start to go away.
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