This weeks guest who is Alex Clapp – Alcohol took Alex to a very dark place but now he’s 2 years sober and running alcohol free events!
In this episode:-
- Alex started drinking heavily as a teenager within a culture that normalized binge drinking.
- Like many of us he developed a career in a "work hard, play hard" culture, where drinking was integral to fitting in
- Alex was drinking heavily anyway but when he was faced with a serious health challenge it ramped up further
- He experienced significant eye health issues leading to partial blindness
- Battling with a combination of problematic drinking and depression Alex was beginning to feel suicidal
- Thankfully his 16 year old son turned this mindset around when he expressed a heartfelt need for his father
- Alex went to rehab 3 times – an interesting process…
- First time he treated it as a “break” to prove to himself that he wasn’t an alcohol – a bit like many of us do with Dry January
- Second time he did some deeper work but then made the mistake of thinking that he had “fixed” his inner problem and would be able to drink normally!
- Third time it stuck when he finally accepted that he had crossed the line into dependence and would never be able to moderate!
- Alex spoke of the importance of vulnerability, which is not so easy for men who have often been raised to hide their emotions and fix everything!
- We agreed on the importance of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable which enables us to create alternative coping mechanisms.
- We also spoke of the importance of having a project in sobriety and Alex has created Claritee, an organization promoting alcohol-free events for corporate and public settings.
- Alex believes that his events are challenging social norms and will provide people with alternative choices for fun and connection
- You can see some beautiful photo of sober people having fun on Alex website which is https://www.clariteegroup.co.uk/ - I’ll put a link in the shownotes
- Alex advocates giving back to the community through volunteering and helping charities
- We agreed that donating to a charity actually lights up the same pathways in our brain that alcohol did!
- So on that basis here is a plug for our Annual Fundraiser which helps underprivileged children here in South Africa
- Just donate whatever you an afford and in addition to getting a buzz you’ll get online and community support for 30 days of your choosing – any 30 day window that suits you between now and the end of Feb
Tribe Sober membership – you can join up HERE.
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