Thanks for stopping by.
If you’d met me in December 2016, you would NEVER have guessed my dark secret.
You’d have met a cheery bloke, with a ready smile. “What are you drinking?” I’d have asked you at the bar. We’d have chatted over a pint and you would have been none the wiser about the problem I was hiding in plain sight. Because, despite my lovely-looking life, successful career and beautiful family, I was carrying an unlovely truth about myself that I hated:
Come 5pm, or at weekends, I almost always had a drink in my hand.
I told myself it didn’t matter – I hid it well, didn’t slur or stagger. ‘A few too many’ was a small price to pay for managing stress and success. Drinking was part of ‘who I was’, a way to relax, a quick confidence boost. But in truth, drinking too much had become part of my daily routine.
And underneath my jolly exterior, life was slowly unravelling.
The successful career was actually a job I hated. I was on antidepressants for stress and hobbling around due to sore joints and gout, triggered by booze.
I had sky-high blood pressure and pre-diabetic blood sugar levels. My family tiptoed around me – advising me to ‘go easy’ (and getting ignored). Lonely and nursing a daily hangover, when I looked in the mirror I saw a man whose life was slowly spiralling away, out of control.
2 Years on, I can’t believe how much has changed.
I’ve swapped that awful job for a completely new career I love, and I am changing people’s lives on a daily basis. I’m pain free and off the happy pills. I look and feel 10 years younger. I sleep deeply, waking in bed not on the sofa at 3am, blearily clutching a glass. I’m over 20kg lighter and in July 2018 I completed a lifelong goal – to ride the entire Tour de France for a children’s charity. Over 3,500Km and more than 48,000 Metres of ascent. All 21 stages on the same schedule as the pros.
One thing has enabled this transformation. I’m no longer bullied by booze. These days when it comes to drinking, I’m the boss.
It took me a long time to find the answer to drinking less. But when I did, I was shocked at how fast I was able to make a change. Now, I’m making it my mission to inspire others who feel the same.
Drinking too much is a lonely old business. But when I finally sought help, my GP told me 50,000 people seek medical help to reduce their drinking each year in the UK. (Yup, it seems that lots of us are looking for a different path…)
First, my doctor referred me to a Talking Therapies service. But they told me I needed to stop drinking BEFORE they would help me – which only pushed me into the welcoming arms of another bottle of wine.
Next, I spent thousands on counselling. Then I tried hypnotherapy.
I attended AA meetings, which work for some, but not me. Finally, in desperation I called a well-meaning but hopelessly under-funded voluntary group. They never even called me back.
It was the loneliest journey I had ever taken. Nobody seemed to be able to help.
With nowhere else to go, I felt lost. I started thinking very, very dark thoughts.
Then one day, Michael Jackson changed my life.
I had the radio on in the car, during one of my endless sales trips. A song came on that I had heard hundreds of times, but never really listened to before. I looked squarely back at the Man in the Mirror and had a sudden realisation. The answer wouldn’t be gift-wrapped for me. I would have to find it for myself.
I had spent an entire career in healthcare sales, learning how to successfully persuade people to do what I wanted – could I use those skills on myself?
I’d had learned many different ‘thinking’ tools, like NLP, CBT, Thought Field Therapy and Coaching to boost my team’s performance. Could I use this knowledge on my own problems? I stopped at the next motorway services and sketched out a 7 day ‘self help’ plan.
That plan became the key that finally unlocked my drinking. It didn’t involve willpower, self – flagellation or living a day at a time. It was based on everything I had learned spending tens of thousands on self development and behavioural change in a commercial environment and was a more holistic approach than I had ever tried before.
Two years later, I’m in a completely different place. I am lighter, healthier, happier.
I didn’t realise how destructive it was to feel out of control until I look back, having survived the experience. 2018 has offered me a happy ending that was previously beyond my grasp.
I’d love to hear about the dreams you will bring to life in 2019, by putting booze back in its box. With everything to play for in 2019, what will you do?
Your dreams might seem distant now, but I know from experience that they could be only 7 days away.
People ask me which was easier – quitting drinking, or riding the Tour de France?
Well it’s an interesting question, and the answer is not as simple as you think. I will tell you this though, while the Tour was hard, it was straightforward. A guy I barely ever saw got up at 4am each morning and signposted the route for the day. It didn’t make the mountains any smaller, but it meant I knew where to go, get fed on the way and where I had a bed waiting at the end of a day in the saddle that ended as late as 11pm.
There was no such roadmap for my drinking, for me but now there is for others, so please grab a free copy of my book, ‘How Alcohol Lied to me’ and I will share the journey with you.
All the best to you and please do get in touch if I can help you on your journey – however big or small your personal mountains are.
I hope 2019 makes your dreams come true!
Andy
From him to him…