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If you're sober curious and you're looking to quit or cut down your consumption of alcohol, maybe you want to go sober entirely. There are things that I wish someone would have told me before I took the plunge into alcohol-free living.
Dr Alex George shares insights and myths about quitting alcohol, offering support for those curious about sober living.
Key Takeaways
- You don't need to be at rock bottom to quit drinking; it's a personal choice.
- Sober life is not boring; it can be more fulfilling and exciting.
- Willpower struggles lessen over time as cravings fade.
- Initial excitement about quitting fades but long-term rewards increase.
- Social pressure exists but can be overcome by remembering your why.
Summary
- Dr Alex George shares personal reasons and experiences behind quitting alcohol.
- He debunks myths such as needing to hit rock bottom before quitting and that sober life is boring.
- Quitting alcohol doesn't always require willpower battles; cravings often fade over time.
- Early excitement about quitting alcohol fades, but long-term benefits grow with persistence.
- Social pressures to drink are real and challenging but manageable with strong motivation.
- Choosing sobriety is a personal decision that doesn't require prior heavy drinking or addiction.
- Living alcohol-free can lead to more energy, joy, and financial freedom.
- Sober living enriches life experiences and personal growth beyond just abstaining from alcohol.
- The video encourages viewers to remember their reasons for quitting to maintain motivation.
- Dr Alex emphasizes community support through subscribing, liking, and commenting on the channel.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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In this video, I'm going to be sharing some of the hard truths as well as some of the amazing things about going alcohol-free that I wish I'd have known before I started my journey. Everyone's story about why they cut down or they
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quit alcohol or change the relationship with alcohol is very personal, and often there's a moment of realization. For me, it was when I sat down in the barber's chair. In my barber's chair on the 4th of December 2022, I looked in the mirror and
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I felt ultimately and completely lost. I didn't recognize myself. I was really overweight at the time, puffy face, tired eyes, but when I looked into my soul, into my eyes, I realized that I was entirely lost, and so I wanted to make a change in
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my life. I knew that the first thing I needed to do was quit the booze. For me, I was drinking at least two or three nights a week and quite heavily, and the impact on my life was absolutely profound. I
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wasn't sticking to my goals. I was, you know, not dealing with difficult things in my life. I was just feeling generally rubbish, mentally and physically. I was in a mess. So for me, it was absolutely a time to change, and you know, if this
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resonates with you, if you're listening to this and you're like, "Oh, that sounds like me. I want to have a change," then this video really is going to be helpful because I'm going to share with you the things that I wish I knew, and hopefully
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it will help you navigate that next step with confidence and actually enjoyment. If you haven't already, please do subscribe to the channel, like, and leave comments. It helps, first of all, you guys create the community here that we
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want, but also helps the channel grow so I can reach and help more people. Okay, first, let's tackle a few myths that I think are really important to address. One of the biggest ones is that you have to be at rock bottom to quit drinking. We
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kind of have created this idea in society that if you can't handle your drink or drink and it not affect your life, then you are the problem, and the only reason that someone would stop drinking is that there is a big problem.
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They're basically at rock bottom. First of all, you can just make a choice that you'd rather drink alcohol-free. You don't even have to have tried to have alcohol in your life to make that choice. If you prefer life alcohol-free, if it
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doesn't interest you, you don't need to have drunk at all to say it's not for me. So that's a really important point. If you have been drinking and you find actually it doesn't really serve me, I'm not at rock bottom, but I'm also not where I
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want to be, that's enough of a reason on its own. You don't need permission ultimately, and you don't need to be in a certain place to quit booze. You know, for me, I actually was in a very difficult
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place. I wasn't actually at rock bottom, but things were kind of in a difficult, definitely in a difficult place, and I looked at my whole life and I thought, "Well, actually, this is not how I want to
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be living. I don't feel like I'm where I want to be. I want to grow. I don't want to be getting worse." And so for me, it was time to quit alcohol. But don't assume and don't think that if you're not at
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rock bottom that you should continue drinking. You know, that's down to your personal choice, what makes you happy. Myth number two: that quitting alcohol means you have a boring life. There's, for a long time, been this notion that people
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who don't drink are boring. Absolute rubbish. Some of the most interesting people that I've ever met and that I know in my life, some of the most successful people I've ever met, don't drink alcohol. You know, if you
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choose to drink, that's absolutely fine. That's your choice. It's not about, you know, saying, "Oh, people that drink, we're shaming them," but it's going, if we remove the alcohol, that doesn't mean that you're going to be a boring person with
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a boring life. You can do so much. You have more time. You have more energy. You have more capacity for joy. You have less down days. You don't lose days to hangovers. You develop skills in life that make you an interesting and rich
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person, and I'm not talking about money here. I'm talking about rich in, you know, in life, in things you've learned and seen and done. You know, if you don't drink alcohol, you probably have more money to travel, for example, and see new
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places. You know, you can really remember the experience that you've had. So I'd really let go of this notion that not drinking makes your life boring. That's absolute rubbish. I can tell you that from over two years of not drinking
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alcohol, that my life is much more exciting now that I don't drink. Number three: that it's always going to be about willpower and a sense of resistance, of kind of like each day, you know, fighting the thing of not drinking. Now, of course,
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I caveat this heavily with the fact that if you're struggling with addiction, that probably won't be your experience, and you might have a different journey, and, you know, that's really important to recognize. I don't struggle with addiction, and I'm often talking from a
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place of, you know, living your life alcohol-free. Of course, I was in a difficult spot, and I did have problems with it, with drink, not necessarily addiction, but the problems it was causing my life. But the important thing
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is that I want to talk about alcohol-free living. So in that aspect then, and thinking about it in that way, it isn't always going to be about a willpower battle or fight or about cravings or about resistance or
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difficulty. Yes, the early days can, you know, be quite a readjustment. There's lots of learning, and there's definitely things about quitting alcohol that are hard, but it's not always going to feel that way. You know, for me, the cravings
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went away first few weeks. Most of the cravings subsided, I think, after six to months to a year. Very rarely I'd get any cravings, maybe at big moments or like a sunny day on the beach, you'd feel a bit
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more like drinking. But now, two years in, I don't have any cravings at all, at all, and it doesn't require willpower now. It's not about resistance at all. It's all about, like, actually enjoying life. So that's a really
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important thing that I want someone to know about before they started. Okay, in this section, I'm going to talk about the things I really wish I knew before I quit alcohol. Now, I'm going to start with the more difficult aspects first, then
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we're going to move on to the kind of positive things that I wish I knew later on. So the first few weeks of quitting alcohol, there is this feeling of excitement, of euphoria, this kind of, "Oh my God, like I'm doing this new thing," and
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you get a real buzz from doing that. That does fade. It does go away. It's not always going to be exciting that you quit alcohol. That doesn't mean it's not exciting living alcohol-free, but the excitement of it will fade, and
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it's really important that when that happens, you don't think, "Oh, I've made a bad decision," or, "I don't feel excited about this anymore." That's completely normal, and a lot of the positive feelings and sense of reward you'll have
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from doing it will come in time, I promise you. So don't let that phase you, because you do notice it first few weeks, you're like, "Ah, this is awesome," then you're like, "I'm not so excited about this anymore," and actually you start
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meeting some of the more challenging aspects of quitting alcohol, and perhaps that can knock your motivation a little bit. Don't let it. Remember the why. Really remember why you're doing this, why it's important to you, and it will carry you
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through. Okay, there's no denying this at all: social pressures are real. Your good friends, friends, yes, and the close people that really matter in your life will immediately or most often very quickly accept that you don't drink, but there
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are people that are the fringes, perhaps your friendship groups or that were your dri-
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think this is improving and changing because like 40% of people under 35 don't drink anymore so there's so many more people that just don't drink so it's not as surprising anymore I think when people go I don't drink alcohol
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it's not such a big thing but if you're someone that used to drink and that's how those people knew you obviously there's a transition period and it's not easy it's not necessarily easy it's not as bad as I thought it was but is
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something I'm not going to tell you like oh yeah you quit alcohol and like everyone's like absolutely amazing and no one questions you you will have it and what's important is to have your reasons so not because you have to
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explain to them but for you to remember in your inside and hear why you're doing it if someone says oh how can we quit booze just have like a phrase or two that you're going to use think about
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before you go to those events or things what are you comfortable in saying I used to say I've decided to quit alcohol I think I prefer living with alcohol I'm having a Break um from alcohol because I'm focusing on my fitness and health
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just have a few phases that you that you've got there stock things that you say most people that are you know good people will just accept at that point some people might be pushy if they are pushy just say to them you know why does
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me having a drink affect your night or um how does me drinking alcohol affect your experience of this evening you know just have something ready to say I think it's so rare it's happened I think I've only had it once maybe twice I don't
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know if that's true I can barely remember an occasion I feel like there was one but people don't generally do that people go oh really you don't drink oh how come oh well you know I've decided I want to just focus my health
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like I've got lots of goals I'm just quitting drink you know saving money and so on like I'm really enjoying it they accept it that they move on often what happens goes you know funny enough I've been thinking about quitting alcohol too
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do you think I should do it that's the most common thing that people say to me but there are social pressures so I'm not going to hide away from that um you can navigate them and you'll get confident navigating them just be
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prepared and know they're coming I've made content and videos on this already actually so you can check those out and off the back of that it's not going to surprise you for me to say that you know your circle does shift because
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ultimately you are changing the way way that you're living you're kind of changing yourself in many ways and so that will have an external effect in the way that you're living your life how you want to spend your time and who you want
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to spend it with and although these changes are positive these a lot of this is why you're doing it's really positive um there's no denying that that change could be hard it's difficult to accept that there's some people that will stay
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in your life and others that won't so let's not hide away from that fact instead embrace it and just remember as Mel Robin says let them you know if people um don't accept you as you are and as you have changed then they're not
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your people and that's okay right on to the positive and one that I'm really excited to get out and tell you is that this will change your life and it's going to change your life for the good you're going to start on a journey
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that's ultimately can unlock so many doors it's going to open your your your life your heart your brain your your everything to a new better way of living I truly believe that that you're going to experience something that's going to be
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so enriching to your life and I can say that with confidence having gone through a lot of the difficult aspects have gone through the ups and downs and dealing with the emotions and all that kind of stuff you know I say that acknowledging
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all of that and the challenges It's amazing And it is so absolutely worth it I mean I'd say this to you have you ever spoken to anyone that's regretted quitting drinking have you have you ever spoken to some I really regret that I
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quit drinking how often do you speak to people that have daily regrets of having drunk It's a Good Life quitting alcohol I promise you next I would say is that you gain way more than you lose which you probably gathered from what I've
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just said that there are certain things that that kind of change or go in your life or you you lose like the experience the buzz of having the booze but trust me the positives are so worth it and you
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notice those at different milestones and I've made videos I I did one at two years reflecting on two years of alcohol free I made a video on 6 months alcohol free as well as ones focusing on specific topics but ultimately over time
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you will notice some incredible and Powerful uh you know changes in your life that are so positive from the changes in your sleep to your energy and motivation you know your physical health um your zest for life all of these
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things have positive changes that are ahead of you wow this was a really good one um and something that I perhaps didn't really expect is that you're just so much more financially empowered you have um better control of how you spend
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your money you don't just buy things because you're hung over or drunk um you you you have more of money because you're not spending it on this stuff you're able to think about things like perhaps Investments perhaps you want to
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put 50 Quid a month into stocks and shares Isa maybe maybe you want to put money aside to that holiday or that thing that you wanted you know I bought a motorbike um from all the booze all the booze I bought a motor bite from all
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the money that I was going to spend on booze after like a year or whatever so you know the change in terms of finances is profound and if you actually look at it and honestly you know this is really
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something I noticed look at how many people there successful entrepreneurs business people uh you know these kind of Finance people that you see these investors and stuff like that actors people that have achieved things in life writers and so on most of them have been
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successful since they quit drink or they attribute a lot of their success to the fact that they don't drink and they make better choices and better decisions it's not really rocket science is it if you don't drink alcohol you're probably
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going to spend your money a lot wiser and you're probably going to enjoy your money more too right here's some quick tips that I have if you're about to enter this journey if you're watching this video probably thinking about going
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um sober or trying it or doing a period of time so here's some advice for you that I'd like to share number one have a goal I think it's quite good to have a specific time frame to aim for that you
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trial alcohol-free living you decide do I kind of like it I would personally advise 90 days 30 days is quite short because you're you're doing a lot of the adaptations that time and most the benefits start at kind of 30 days
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onwards so I think 90 days is a really good amount of time to have a general genuine feeling of what that life is like and then at the end of 90 days you can say well do I want to go back to
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drinking or am I kind of enjoying this have alternative drinks that you can enjoy it sounds obvious but you know we enjoy having a drink something nice drinking uh you know alcoholic drink if you remove the alcohol part of it it's
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about a sense of occasion and enjoyment why should you not enjoy a drink because you're sober there's no reason you can't enjoy a drink my fridge is full of different alcohol-free Alternatives there's so many different ones on the
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market now explore them try them and you'll find the sense of occasion gives you a moment to enjoy that replaces alcohol very well a really good tip I think is that when you're feeling good and you're like I'm feeling empowered
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I'm in a in my and I'm feeling good about this alcohol-free thing write in your notes how you're feeling and a few points of gratitude why you grateful that you're doing this and that you've done this just reflect in your notes app
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because when you're having days that you're feeling like oh God why am I doing this on the opposite end you can go back to and remind yourself of how you felt think of it like the um the suggestion that people say and I I think
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it's a really great one is that when you go to the gym just recording a video after gym session so that you can look at that video to remind yourself when you don't feel like going to the gym how
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you feel and how you will feel when you do do it my final tip is to have coping mechanisms for stress so a lot of people drink alcohol because yeah socializing and so on but a lot of people use it for
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stress relief now I've made a whole video on this topic of stress I really recommend that you watch it because the science behind alcohol and stress is absolutely fascinating but what's really important is when you remove this thing
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you need to replace it with other things that are helpful so to deal with stress um you know General Life I would say make sure that you practice things like meditation give journaling a try have some sort of Outlet like exercise
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socializing things that is going to help you kind of deal with the stress that's there because it's not just going to go on its own we want to have healthy ways of coping with it and also I would say
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is develop that support network as well I have a few people that know that you're on this journey that you can talk to and reflect with perhaps someone that's also alcohol free doesn't have to be that case I I don't have anyone or
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didn't have anyone when I went quit alcohol that was also doing it I just kind of talked to my good friends because my good friends will support me no matter what guys thank you so much for watching this video I hope you found
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it helpful and useful let me know in the comments your thoughts and of course do subscribe if you haven't already I hope that you're excited for this journey and that you're going to give it a go because well why not thank you everyone
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take care and goodbye
Topics:sober curiousquitting alcoholalcohol-free livingsobriety mythsmental healthwillpowersocial pressurepersonal growthDr Alex Georgesober lifestyle
