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Today we have Mitchell. He is 30 years old, lives in Missouri, and he took his last drink on April 6th, 2025.
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Next Monday, August 31st, we are celebrating the launch of the compilation book This Is How We Quit with a live event via Zoom. Everyone who registers for this free event will receive one free month of membership in Café RE.
Coming in September, Café RE will be hosting Ditching the Booze: Emotions. It is a four-week live course, every Wednesday in September at 8pm Eastern
[01:50] Thoughts from Paul:
Paul shares a YouTube video from Seth Capehart MD about The World’s Most Encouraged Drug.
He gives a brief history of alcohol, that we have been consuming it for thousands of years as humans. It used to serve a vital purpose then, because fermented beverages with a low alcohol content were safer to drink than water. Eventually engineers figured out to provide clean drinking water, but the alcohol consumption stuck around.
The doctor shares what alcohol does to our bodies. It taxes the liver and wrecks our hormones. The doctor says if you were trying to create a hormonal environment that would make you fat, weak, and tired, alcohol would be perfect that. He says it’s the most invisible, yet visible problem he’s encountered in medicine.
The next time you find yourself romanticizing a drink, remember the statistics and how terribly it affects our body.
Alcohol was the most encouraged drug, but that’s changing and you are part of it.
[08:35] Paul introduces Mitchell:
Mitchell is 30 years old, and lives in Missouri with his wife and three cats. For work, Mitchell is an RN and for fun he enjoys fitness, various types of gaming and is competing in his first triathlon.
Mitchell says that growing up, both of his parents were problem drinkers. He hated seeing his parents drunk and by the time he was 10 or 11, he swore he was never going to drink.
During a bout of depression when he was 18, Mitchell decided to try alcohol to numb the discomfort. He would drink in his room by himself and knew from the start it wasn’t normal behavior.
When Mitchell went to college in 2015, he says his mental health had improved and the change in environment and meeting new people helped. His drinking looked different than his friends’ and he chose to ignore the voice inside telling him he might have an issue. He was sober curious at times but wasn’t ready to quit.
After graduating, Mitchell’s work as a nurse enabled him to have a schedule for when he could drink. He got married in 2023 and Mitchell says it was clear that this wasn’t a cycle he should continue now that there is another person in his life. She is a normal drinker and didn’t understand Mitchell’s desire to keep going after she was drinking after she was ready to stop. This created conflict for them.
Mitchell began to sneak drinks so that his wife wouldn’t know that amount he was drinking and he was always ready to downplay the drinking when she brought it up.
When his brother-in-law announced that he was quitting after a rough night out, Mitchell decided to speak up and say he would join him. He didn’t put a timeline on it, but by saying it out loud, Mitchell knew he would be able to stop for a little while. Having the accountability buddy was helpful and then his wife joined in to support them both.
On day nine, his father passed away from an alcohol-related illness. This solidified Mitchell’s intention to stay sober, and he started looking for resources. He began listening to the RE podcast and reading quit lit. Not long after he began attending AA and got a sponsor to work the steps with. Mitchell feels fortunate to have a great support system both in and out of AA.
Mitchell’s parting piece of guidance: Don’t suffer in silence.
Recovery Elevator
You took the elevator down.
You got to take the stairs back up.
We can do this.
