10,000 Days - It's a long time without a pint...

If you’d told me 10,000 days ago that I’d still be living alcohol-free some 27 years later, I simply wouldn’t have believed you.

Has it been hard, well if I’m being totally honest, not really. Has there been some triumphs and tribulations along the way - well of course there has, but that’s life isn’t it. And in this rather self-congratulatory styled blog, rather than projecting a perfect picture of alcohol-free living perfectness - how about I explain where it’s been tough. As that’s the only interesting part for you…

The Lost Years…

Those were in the late eighties and early nineties although I’m not sure when they really started - they just did. I just kinda lost my way, big time and let myself go. I thought at the time I was in control but in reality I became a total pratt.

Booze makes you a pratt. A pratt to yourself. A pratt that everyone else can recognise but yourself.

Giving Up

Now there’s the giving up and then the not giving up. It’s a crazy equation where the first giving up in reality is the hardest part. It took me two years to finally admit that I needed to terminate my alcohol addiction . Talk to any drinker and the excuses will just pour out. I know, I wrote most of them!

The not giving up once you’ve started giving up, gets easier though and as the day tally adds, the desire not to mess up the clean-streak helps re-build ones confidence.

Times of Crisis

Anyone thats experienced a close family death, a messy divorce or being made redundant will tell you that a drink probably helped them through when the going got tough. I’ve experienced all of those situations in the last 27 years but have held fast and not reached out for the emotional crutch.

Times of Joy

Now you’d think this would make abstinence easier but in fact it’s a really dangerous time as our culture associates celebration with a drink. I mean, what would a Grand Prix or FA Cup Final be with a nice Cup of Tea instead of a bottle of bubbly. 

Mindset

What I have learned is that it’s down to mindset if you want to get through this or any other life-threatening situation you might find yourself in - and that’s where I’ve succeeded - if you can call it a success.

Projection

The legacy, if I can call it that, is that from my experience I can project some of that mental conditioning to others - that’s been the best part of the whole process.

Where it goes and how that grows, well keep watching this space as it’s part of my life now till the end of my days and I clock up my final number of days. In the mean time, I’ll keep going, keep running and keep on changing lives, for as long as I can. 

Amen.

10,000 Days' Dry - 1,092 Marathons etc.