Focus is extremely important in almost all aspects of life, whatever it is that you are doing, the more focused you are, the more successful at it you will be. This is exactly the same with recovery, remaining focused is very important. I have lost my focus over the past couple of weeks. I have had a virus which has knocked me around a bit and we have also had a family holiday during this time, so my routine has been thrown out quite significantly and this has had a knock-on effect to my focus.
It has now been over 7 months since I had my last drink and for a while there, the thought of drinking had not even entered my head, however over the past couple of weeks I have noticed that thought creeping back in, ever so slightly. Not in a way that would compromise my sobriety (at least not yet) but in a frustratingly, annoying way. I have been wondering why and what may be causing this to happen. The weather is starting to warm up and the days are becoming longer, this used to always make it easy to have and enjoy a drink. My Aussie Rules Footy team, The West Coast Eagles, are doing extremely well this season and have made the Grand Final, usually a big day of partying and drinking. But these are mere challenges. This is life and life goes on in sobriety, you decide how you go about these events and how you avoid drinking during these times. My problem is not the weather, or the fact that my football team has achieved something it hasn't achieved in 9 years, my problem is my lack of focus.
I have allowed the past couple of weeks to affect my focus and my mindset. With this, allowing old ways of thinking back in. I was talking about it with my partner last night and just talking about it was helping me feel better and get focused again. Writing this blog is doing the exact same thing.
I believe writing this blog and working on this website are keys to my ongoing recovery. When I am working on these projects, my mind is focused. Focused on what blog post I am writing next, what feature I want to add to my website, what photo to upload to Instagram, Pinterest or what to update on Facebook or Twitter, you get my drift... The point is, I don't want to have the time to think about alcohol. I don't want the thought of it to even enter my mind especially at this stage of my recovery, 7 months in, so therefore I need to be extremely focused and have my goals of sobriety & entrepreneurship clear in sight.
Success built from failure,
The Alcoholic Entrepreneur
www.thealcoholicentrepreneur.com
Tuesday, 29 September 2015
Thursday, 24 September 2015
How i am turning a drinking problem into a Entrepreneurial way of life
12 months ago I was drinking alcohol almost daily and to excess, when I say to excess I mean to the point of blackout, I was well and truly an alcoholic and I did not see a way out, I knew I had a problem and I knew something needed to change or I was on a quick journey to a place I did not want to be. It took me a long time to realise I had a drinking problem, you see I was a high functioning alcoholic, I still held down an important job, I paid my bills on time, I kept up a good appearance around family friends and general society, but that was because I planned my drinking times, planned my hangover times and did my best to hide the amount I was drinking from everyone including myself.
But once that idea of having a problem had entered my head it grew and kept growing over the next 6 months. I eventually got to the stage of not only knowing I had a serious problem, but knowing I had to stop, which was a big step towards stopping, but it wasn't until I actually wanted to stop drinking that things started to happen, but I was still in a dilemma, I wanted to stop I just didn't know how, I couldn't imagine my life without alcohol, how would I have fun? what would I do on my weekends? what would people think of me, I was extremely confused and torn, something I can compare it too is when you are in a bad relationship and you know it is the healthier option to just part ways and start your life fresh but you just can't imagine how your life is going to be without the other person and you are scared to make that break!
Well after some time some pretty serious soul searching and a few more drunken slumbers that never ended well, I finally did manage to stop, I decided to stop while I was on holiday and I haven't started again since, I can remember sitting on that beach on the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia, thinking to myself why am I sat here drinking by myself, I don't want to be drinking this drink but here I am sat here drinking it, why? I got drunk that night, very drunk, but I woke up the next morning and something had changed, I felt a change I cannot explain but it was there and to this day I have not picked up a drink.
I had stopped great! I had manage to break the cycle, but now I had to remain stopped and I felt completely lost, I didn't know what to do with myself, I had already started doing some small blog entries and found it really helped, so I kept going with it, but since my first few blog entries something had changed, since that faithful night on the Gold Coast I had found a new found energy I felt I had a message that I could spread and above all I felt and wanted to grow these blogs into something more.
I had extra time, I had spare income and I had added ambition with idea's and passion to go with it, so I continued to blog more frequently, but I still wanted more so I started investigating getting a website built, once I had sourced a web developer and the page was under way I registered the domain name www.thealcoholicentrepreneur.com was born. I was already using the name the alcoholic entrepreneur, in my original blog but this made it real, I had my own domain name with my soon to be own website, this was exciting, I was creating a home base for myself my idea's and my recovery.
The site is still a work in progress and I tweak it most weeks trying to find that perfect formula I have also set up social media accounts and am beginning to get a small following, I am working on a book and have idea's to implement course to the website to help with recovery education and entrepreneurial dreams.
I have no expectations of where this will all lead, I am doing it because it is helping, it is helping keep me busy it is helping me keep focused on my recovery and I am enjoying every minute of it, I spent my time and money on alcohol before my sobriety, sobriety to me is about opportunities, opportunities that were not available while drinking. Don't just get sober, get sober and get rich!
Success built from failure,
The Alcoholic Entrepreneur
www.thealcoholicentrepreneur.com
But once that idea of having a problem had entered my head it grew and kept growing over the next 6 months. I eventually got to the stage of not only knowing I had a serious problem, but knowing I had to stop, which was a big step towards stopping, but it wasn't until I actually wanted to stop drinking that things started to happen, but I was still in a dilemma, I wanted to stop I just didn't know how, I couldn't imagine my life without alcohol, how would I have fun? what would I do on my weekends? what would people think of me, I was extremely confused and torn, something I can compare it too is when you are in a bad relationship and you know it is the healthier option to just part ways and start your life fresh but you just can't imagine how your life is going to be without the other person and you are scared to make that break!
Well after some time some pretty serious soul searching and a few more drunken slumbers that never ended well, I finally did manage to stop, I decided to stop while I was on holiday and I haven't started again since, I can remember sitting on that beach on the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia, thinking to myself why am I sat here drinking by myself, I don't want to be drinking this drink but here I am sat here drinking it, why? I got drunk that night, very drunk, but I woke up the next morning and something had changed, I felt a change I cannot explain but it was there and to this day I have not picked up a drink.
I had stopped great! I had manage to break the cycle, but now I had to remain stopped and I felt completely lost, I didn't know what to do with myself, I had already started doing some small blog entries and found it really helped, so I kept going with it, but since my first few blog entries something had changed, since that faithful night on the Gold Coast I had found a new found energy I felt I had a message that I could spread and above all I felt and wanted to grow these blogs into something more.
I had extra time, I had spare income and I had added ambition with idea's and passion to go with it, so I continued to blog more frequently, but I still wanted more so I started investigating getting a website built, once I had sourced a web developer and the page was under way I registered the domain name www.thealcoholicentrepreneur.com was born. I was already using the name the alcoholic entrepreneur, in my original blog but this made it real, I had my own domain name with my soon to be own website, this was exciting, I was creating a home base for myself my idea's and my recovery.
The site is still a work in progress and I tweak it most weeks trying to find that perfect formula I have also set up social media accounts and am beginning to get a small following, I am working on a book and have idea's to implement course to the website to help with recovery education and entrepreneurial dreams.
I have no expectations of where this will all lead, I am doing it because it is helping, it is helping keep me busy it is helping me keep focused on my recovery and I am enjoying every minute of it, I spent my time and money on alcohol before my sobriety, sobriety to me is about opportunities, opportunities that were not available while drinking. Don't just get sober, get sober and get rich!
Success built from failure,
The Alcoholic Entrepreneur
www.thealcoholicentrepreneur.com
Wednesday, 9 September 2015
How to stay sober when on holiday
Holidays are a great way to put your head down and relax, but when you are trying to change your lifestyle sometimes they can work both ways.
I am currently away with my family in the south west of Western Australia an area famous for it's beautiful country scenery and its wineries. There are 8 adults and 5 children, 6 of the adults I am with drink, 4 of them drink heavily in a similar fashion to what I did before I decided to stop drinking, so not needing to say, there has been and will continue to be plenty of alcohol around for the next week.
Now sometimes situations like this can be avoided or put off for a while, but this for me is a family tradition that means allot to me so I do not want to miss out because of a life choice I have made.
So to be able to go on a holiday like this knowing I want to remain sober and still enjoy the time with my family there are things that need to be done.
The first thing you have to do is make sure everyone you are going on holiday with understands that you are not drinking, they do not need to know everything you could for eg. just tell them you are having a week to give you body a break, or you are doing a cleansing month, whatever you feel comfortable in telling, i do however suggest if it is you family to come out and tell them the truth, let them know the reason's for wanting to stop drinking and let them know that you have stopped drinking and plan to stay stopped and would really appreciate that they did not offer you any alcohol, I also make clear that I do not expect anyone to change their drinking habits to make me feel better or help me as this is not necessary.
The next is to get your mind right, you need to know yourself and keep telling yourself that you will not be drinking, no matter how tempting that one drink at that lovely winery may seem your mind is already made up before that situation even becomes a reality, this is something very important in the early stages of recovery, you have to know how to convince yourself of something and commit to it. each challenge and each commitment is real and they all add up to the greater good.
Finally have fun, enjoy the time with your family & or friends, enjoy your life in sobriety and remember why it is you chose this life, you wanted to spend your time making wonderful memories without alcohol distorting, dramatising and dominating every aspect of your life, especially your holidays!
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
August Update
August was a busy month, not only for progress within this project but in my Life in general, it seems the longer I go with being sober the more responsibilities and jobs I take on. This is not a bad thing, but I have to learn to manage my time better and schedule time for different parts of my life.
I feel like when I do sit down and give this project time I am all over the place, I don't have it structured to any format, I just sit down and plod away and I hope I am making progress in the right direction, whether that be writing a blog post, updating social media, or working on the book, i do feel however that this is at a detriment to my progress, a goal that I have for July is to focus on 1 or 2 things a night and spend time to structure my months weeks and eventually days.
I feel like when I do sit down and give this project time I am all over the place, I don't have it structured to any format, I just sit down and plod away and I hope I am making progress in the right direction, whether that be writing a blog post, updating social media, or working on the book, i do feel however that this is at a detriment to my progress, a goal that I have for July is to focus on 1 or 2 things a night and spend time to structure my months weeks and eventually days.
The month of august I focussed on social media, I have set up links between facebook and twitter both ways, so whichever platform I post on the post shows up on the other, I have set up an Instagram account, which I have been aiming to do at least 1 or 2 post's per day, so far that has not been happening unfortunately but I will work on integrating Instagram with facebook etc. I also started using Periscope a new platform from twitter, where you can capture a live feed which will then stay on the periscope servers for 24hours I am pretty new to it but have been enjoying giving it a go, I think I have posted 12 or so videos so far, sign up and follow me @alco_preneur. Some Goals I want to set for social media are to set up a youtube account and start posting video's showing and talking about how sobriety and the entrepreneurially mindset can be achieved.
I also focussed on a few small changes to the website, I have added a calculator which can calculate how much money you can save per year when not drinking, I also started a couple more pages on my site, to document Movies, Documentaries & Books which all revolve around Alcohol, alcoholics & recovery, my aim is to keep growing this area of the website and eventually have a vast catalog of educational media which people can use as a quick reference guide to help there recovery, once this catalog has grown I will be then looking at including documentaries and movies that cover the entrepreneurially way of life.
My blog post's have not be as frequent this month, and that is something I would like to rectify, along with what I wrote above about structuring my time, I would like to make an effort o right at least including my monthly update 4 blogs per month, almost one per week. I don't feel to about it as I have spent a fair bit of time working on a book which I am aiming to get out in the next 6 month.
I also focussed on a few small changes to the website, I have added a calculator which can calculate how much money you can save per year when not drinking, I also started a couple more pages on my site, to document Movies, Documentaries & Books which all revolve around Alcohol, alcoholics & recovery, my aim is to keep growing this area of the website and eventually have a vast catalog of educational media which people can use as a quick reference guide to help there recovery, once this catalog has grown I will be then looking at including documentaries and movies that cover the entrepreneurially way of life.
My blog post's have not be as frequent this month, and that is something I would like to rectify, along with what I wrote above about structuring my time, I would like to make an effort o right at least including my monthly update 4 blogs per month, almost one per week. I don't feel to about it as I have spent a fair bit of time working on a book which I am aiming to get out in the next 6 month.
The progress I have made this month I am proud of and I am happy with the way things are going, however like I have pointed out in this post, I really need to spend some time making myself a road map structure map, so I can be more focused on what I am doing and where I am heading.
I would love to hear from you and your progress hit me up on social media or drop me an email at alcoholicentrepreneur@gmail.com
Success built from failure,
The Alcoholic Entrepreneur
www.thealcoholicentrepreneur.com
I would love to hear from you and your progress hit me up on social media or drop me an email at alcoholicentrepreneur@gmail.com
Success built from failure,
The Alcoholic Entrepreneur
www.thealcoholicentrepreneur.com
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