I Quit Alchohol For 363 Days. Here's What I Learned...

Ever since I was a child, drinking has been a part of my life. 

Alcohol was big part of my family dynamic even in the early years. I’ll never forget some of the camping trips and holidays that were tainted by booze.

Alcohol started to become a problem for me personally in high school. 

I’ve never considered myself an alcoholic but I did go out with my friends and binge drink on the weekends.

Countless nights clubbing, festivals and multiple day “benders” were normal for me in my early 20’s.

I remember trying to quit drinking multiple times before I was successful.

I would tell myself I’m going to stop every Monday and then by the time Friday rolled around, it was the same problem over and over again.

I’d get carried away and fall straight back into the bad habits.

This would lead to anxiety and even depressive periods that would leave me in a pit of self hatred wondering why I couldn’t just get my shit together.

In 2018 when I was 25 years old, after a long term relationship breakdown, getting fired from my corporate job in Sydney Australia and a deep depression, I finally made the commitment to stop drinking for a full year.

I ended up doing 363 days without a drink which is a funny story I’ll share with you a bit later on.

Now I’m 32 and life looks a lot different these days. I have a wife and 2 kids, I run a business helping people with their mindset and anxiety, and I am the healthiest and happiest I’ve ever been.

I want to share with you some of the key lessons I learned when I quit drinking for a year because that time of my life really set me up for the success I’ve experienced in my 30’s so far.

If you prefer to watch you can check out the video version here:

I Quit Alchohol For 363 Days. Here's What I Learned...

1. Commitment is key.

2. The hardest part.

3. Social media accountability.

4. Confidence and clarity.

5. Going out sober.

6. A new understanding of choice.

Let’s start at the beginning…

1. Commitment is key.

One of the biggest lessons I learned when I stopped drinking for a year was the power of commitment.

I had tried to quit drinking before but I never committed.

There’s really something to be said about the power of making a decision and sticking to it.

If you can’t commit to your decisions, you’re fucked.

You’ve gotta be able to draw a line in the sand and stand by it.

This isn’t always easy.

Like I said, I had tried multiple times in my early 20’s to quit drinking and I failed multiple times.

However I kept persisting with the goal of getting sober and finally, it happened.

Looking back, that single decision to quit for a whole year was the game-changer.

Then my relentless commitment to overcome my impulses and stick to my guns helped me get through the hardest part…

2. The hardest part.

The hardest part for me was the first month.

The first 30 days of temptations were definitely the most challenging.

I actually made the commitment to stop drinking when I was overseas in South America.

After the relationship breakdown and job loss I mentioned earlier, I decided to book a ticket to Argentina and embark on a solo mission to Antarctica.

Yep, you read that correctly, when I was 25, I went on a solo trip to Antarctica.

I had a goal to hit all 7 continents by the time I was 25 and Antarctica was the final frontier.

That’s a tale for another time but to cut a long story short, on the boat to Antarctica, there were a bunch of young Aussies.

We ended up getting absolutely plastered on the 2-day trip back to South America and I vividly remember when we got back to land, I was standing in the middle of the road with barely any money left, no girlfriend, no job and I had just completed what was meant to be the best trip of my life, and I was just severely hungover.

That was when I made the commitment to stop drinking.

The thing was, I still had a few weeks in Argentina before I came home and they love red wine and steak over there.

It took a lot of determination to not have any wine while I was eating at steakhouses with some my fellow travellers but I did it. 

I made it over that 1-month hump and got back to Australia ready to complete my mission of 1 year sober.

The next lesson I learned was the power of social accountability.

3. Social media accountability.

During my 12-months sober, I documented every month with a “social media check in”.

I would make a post on instagram to mark every month I had stuck to my commitment.

If you go back through my page you can probably still find those posts…

1 month sober

2 months sober

3 months sober

It was amazing how much this actually helped me to stick to my plan.

I knew everyone was watching me so I didn’t want to fuck it up.

For a lot of people, social media is a really toxic and negative thing.

I personally think it can be a great tool if it’s used properly.

Using it to document your journey, keep yourself accountable and confront your fears is a very positive way to use it.

Comparing yourself to others highlight reels is not.

That’s just my two cents as someone who has utilised the power of social media to my advantage over the years…

Again, it all comes down to your own self control, discipline and commitment.

4. Confidence and clarity.

One of the things that stops people from succeeding with going sober is the fear of judgement from others.

I know that was the case for me, my whole social environment was built on drinking and so to stop drinking was like to become an outcast.

There’s a real deep sense of “belonging” that influences a lot of our behaviour as humans without us realizing it.

When you go against the grain, it’s like you’re going against the tribe and biologically, going against the tribe is kinda like suicide.

It’s like you’re getting thrown out into the unknown and you’re all alone with no safety.

That’s the unconscious narrative anyway (even if it’s not really true).

Thoughts like…

• “What will they think of me?”
• “Will they think I’m a loser?”
• “Everyone else is doing it, maybe I should just do it”
• "I don’t want to be a loser”
• “I don’t want to be a vibe kill”

These thoughts are just the surface of a deeper sense of not belonging to the tribe.

In my experience, when you actually own your decision, it’s the exact opposite.

I’ve put that last statement in bold and underlined because you have to have the confidence to own your decision.

If you’re not confident in your decision, people can smell it on you and you can become a target.

When you are confident in your decision, there’s like an energetic shield which comes over you.

I was committed to my decision so when I went out people would come up to me and tell me how inspiring it was for them that I went sober.

It wasn’t uncommon for me to get drunken rants from strangers about how they wanted to go sober as well.

Or I would see them visibly withdraw into feelings of guilt and shame.

You could literally see their body language change when I confidently stated I was sober.

It was this clarity and confidence that kept fuelling the fire of my sobriety journey.

5. Going out sober.

A common misconception about going sober is that you become a hermit who doesn’t go out.

This was not my experience at all.

I wanted to continue going out with my friends so I went to clubs, pubs and festivals, completely sober.

It was fun.

Watching people drunk is pretty funny. It’s wild some of the shit people do when they’re pissed.

As a guy in my mid 20’s at the time, going out sober was incredible for my confidence.

I would try to pick up girls sober and I would quite often get rejected.

That actually helped my confidence so much because I learned it doesn’t really matter if you get rejected.

And after I got used to being rejected, I actually became LESS awkward.

So in the end, I became way more confident and attractive.

Let’s just say, the year I was sober was a great year for my dating life.

6. A new understanding of choice.

At the start of this, I mentioned I went sober for 363 days.

You would think that I would have wanted to go for the fully 365 days right?

Well on the last few days, I went for a camping trip with 2 of my best mates at the time.

We did some amazing hikes and explored some of the beautiful natural areas north of Sydney.

One day, after a massive day-long hike and visit to some waterholes, we got back to our Airbnb and they cracked open the beers.

At this point, I was 363 days into my sobriety journey.

I made a conscious choice to enjoy a beer with my mates.

I ended up having a few (3) beers that night and I didn’t regret it at all.

Over that 12-month period I had completely reshaped my relationship with alcohol, I had created new levels of self confidence and I was totally at peace with my decision to have a drink.

I had done the work and I was proud of myself.

That was nearly 6 years ago now and I can confidently say that I have never had any issues with drinking since then.

Do I drink now? 

Yes I do. I drink at celebrations with my family. I sometimes have a few drinks with our neighbours and for friends' birthdays.

But these days, it’s usually only a couple with the rare occasion of a big night (like my sisters wedding earlier this year).

I really believe taking a year off alcohol can completely reshape your relationship with alcohol, drinking and yourself and I highly recommend it for anyone considering it.

It worked for me and the lessons I learned will last a lifetime!

Plus, now I know if I ever wanted to quit again, I could easily do so and that mindset is priceless.

Are you looking for help with your mindset, habits and discipline?

I offer self development coaching and mentorship services.

Here are a few ways you can work with me:

1. You can Join Mind Launch on our monthly membership and get access to all the tools, methods, resources and frameworks that have helped 100's overcome anxiety, stress and emotional reactivity in a self-paced way.

2. You can apply to work with me 1:1 and get personalized support from me as your private coach.

3. Still not sure? Try this free 15-min training on my website. It’s one of the most popular (and powerful) trainings I’ve ever delivered.

If you know you need to change then now is the time to draw that line in the sand and make your decision!

With Optimism,

Josh