Why I quit drinking alcohol

There’s an old story about a little tree sapling. When a sapling is just getting rooted and starting to grow, you should put a fence around it so the cows in the pasture don’t lean on it and kill it. Once the sapling has grown big and strong, remove the fence and let the cows do their thing. And so it goes with alcohol and me. During the Super Bowl a few friends asked why I wasn’t drinking. Here’s the best way I can articulate it... I tell them that I feel "clear". What that really means is this: I’m trying to be here now. ("Be Here Now" is a phrase coined by Richard Alpert -- aka Ram Dass). I want to be present in this very moment. And the next moment, and so forth. I don’t want to live in the past -- either in my traumas or in my nostalgia. I don’t want to live in the future -- where there’s angst or even pleasant desires. The past and the future are not real. It’s now! I want to be here now. That's been my goal these past few years. Generally, when I’m here now, good things happen because things just are. There’s no real bad when there's no past or future. It just "is" here. Some of you may have experienced this state of being here now. Maybe without even realizing it. Exercise, meditation, writing (when you’re not judging yourself), handwriting, sex, food. All sorts of things can bring you into the present moment. Even alcohol, of course, can take you to the now. But for me, in my stage of development or whatever, alcohol is an extremely limited vehicle for becoming present. The relief from the past or future is temporary and I’m often slingshotted back farther away from being clear and present. So it goes like this: - Drink. Ah. I’m here now. I’m in the body. I’m not thinking about much besides the now. - Alcohol quickly starts to leave the system. Desire for more. Depressive thoughts creep in (alcohol is a depressant after all). - Alcohol is gone and I’m hungover. End this present moment now. Get me out. Some people have asked me why I can’t just enjoy 1 drink and stop. That's a fair question. Alcohol wasn’t exactly controlling my life previously. I certainly wasn’t an alcoholic. But like the sapling analogy… I’ve needed & wanted a fence these past 10 months. A reader named Tai shared this beautiful quote with me: "100% is easy. 99% is hard as hell." Having 1 drink and stopping is harder than just having zero drinks. Now, this is just my trip. Your’s might look a lot different. There are plenty of people who can drink a little bit without issue and can be plenty present before, during and after. Again, I decided to go with the fence and the crutch of not drinking. Eventually, I’ll want to shed the crutch (of not drinking at all) to build real strength, but I’m still new. Maybe there’s something in this email for you think about. What are your goals and what might be something that's holding you back? Your deterrent doesn’t have to be alcohol and your goal doesn’t have to be: "be here now". If you're not where you want to be... you might need to put up a fence and go 100% instead of 99%. Make sense? Let me know if it sparks anything for you. - Derek Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( CopyHour.com, 340 S LEMON AVE, 5007, WALNUT, CA 91789