Episode #139: Laurie Seguin on Becoming a Striver

In this episode you get to meet the fabulous Laurie Seguin. "When I thought about whether or not I could live my life without drinking alcohol in a culture where alcohol was all around me, I was very concerned that I would be able to handle the ‘craving’ to drink," Laurie told me recently. "There had been many attempts at giving up alcohol before and each time, I gave in to what I now call the ‘bewitching hour’ and the fact that all around me other people were still drinking. I was very skeptical that anything could get me passed those cravings and doubted anyone else could understand what that was like for me." "When I began taking The Truth About Alcohol Life Changing Experience (TTAA LCE), we began to take a look at how we structure our time during those moments and what we do with the ‘white space’ or down time. In other words, finding pursuits outside of drinking to occupy the time that I would normally use on that activity. At first, that sounded like an easy thing to do, but I found that I needed to get to know myself again. It was also the first time that I really looked at how much time I was setting aside to consume alcohol and then recover from it. While taking the course, we began to deconstruct our beliefs around drinking and became reacquainted with the things that that used to bring us joy, before drinking quietly ushered those things into a place that seemed far away. We also delved into our thought patterns and the coping strategies we gradually developed as drinkers to begin building healthier habits in our thinking. We become proactive and aware as opposed to reactive and confused. The urge to submit to the knee-jerk, subconscious habit of pouring a drink is replaced with clear headed cognitive and emotional awareness. My personal experience with the course is that once I saw the truth about alcohol, I could never unsee it. It was like finding out that someone I thought was a good friend was a total fraud." "I finished the LCE in February and have been someone who does not drink alcohol for about 6 months. More importantly though, than not drinking alcohol, I don’t think about drinking alcohol. It does not present a temptation and I have no desire to return to the sluggish haze that was me prior to my experience at TTAA." Today, Laurie is a TTAA Moderator, helping fellow Strivers to follow in her footsteps. Find more at: www.thetruthaboutalcohol.co.uk The Truth About Alcohol We Are Not Alcoholic, And we Refuse to be Anonymous