Today we have Nick. He is 41 and lives in Richfield, MN. He took his last drink on November 8th, 2023.

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[03:19] Thoughts from Paul:

Imagine if aliens were cruising the universe and made a stop on planet Earth and they saw human beings drinking a substance that appeared to be damaging their lives.

But first, this is revealing of the power of the unconscious mind, or the paradigms in our society. If you take crack, cocaine, heroin and meth and right off the bat it's like, yeah, that will fuck your life up. But with alcohol, which has the data to show it's the most dangerous drug on the planet, it's flipped. Thankfully the correct messaging is starting to come out, but we have a way to go still.

Paul shares what he imagines would be the conversation between aliens and humans as they begin to ask questions about why we humans are consuming a toxic substance that has no health benefits and leaves them incapacitated the next morning.

[08:24] Paul introduces Nick:

Nick is married with three young children. He says he is a pop culture aficionado. He enjoys hunting, fishing, camping and spending time at their cabin a few hours away. Nick is big into fitness as well.

Being around alcohol was a normal thing for Nick growing up. He drank some in high school but hit the ground running in college with all the typical vices. He says he never had any major consequences and did well in school. The "work hard, play hard" mentality ran strong even after college.

Nick met his wife on a flight and soon after they began a long-distance relationship. Around this time Nick says his drinking was causing some negative behavior and people were noticing. A comment from his dad had Nick feeling some embarrassment so he started trying to moderate his drinking by limiting his consumption while socializing but drinking more at home alone.

After attempting to moderate with the use of an app, Nick found himself drinking more in secret. He and his wife would have conversations about it, but he wasn't ready to quit. Nick was hiding bottles of alcohol throughout the house and drinking daily and going out less, so it wasn't as obvious to others that he had an issue. It was a constant battle in his mind.

One afternoon, Nick drove with his wife to pick up their daughter from preschool. When he came out of the school, his wife had taken the driver's seat. He had driven to the school drunk, and she decided enough was enough. She took them to the police station and had him arrested. When he came by the house the next day he expected her to kick him out but instead she hugged him and shared she just wanted him to get better.

Nick was able to stay sober for three months, but wasn't doing it for himself so it didn't stick. His drinking ended up worse than ever after that until he finally hit rock bottom. He wasn't doing well physically or mentally at this point. He woke one morning and decided to go to treatment that week.

Nick threw himself into treatment and experimented with several modalities. In the past he was resistant to AA but now embraces it as an abundant resource and enjoys the community. Nick's health has greatly improved, and he has been able to get off of all medications in addition to ditching the booze. Fitness is his medicine now, Nick says.

Nick's parting piece of guidance: You can do it. Do it for yourself, don't do it for someone else.

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