Transcription
All right, welcome back to Getting Sober... again. My name is Jay, and today I'm going to talk about why so many people are saying no to alcohol. But first, if you haven't yet, don't forget to show your support for everybody here in this sobriety community by giving this video a thumbs up. And if you care about your own sobriety journey as much as we do, we have over 600 videos on the topic of sobriety and self-improvement, so make sure that you're subscribed to this channel.
All right, let's get started. First and foremost, for those of you out there that are sober, comment down below and share with the community what your current streak of sobriety is. In bonus points, if you want to mention the health benefits that you've also noticed along your sobriety journey.
Now, I'm going to make a bold statement: why I believe that more people are saying no to alcohol. And that is, people are starting to realize that they feel better without alcohol. Now, don't get me wrong, I was certainly known to enjoy a drink, or more like 10. But after the night was over, I might have been happy, dopey, bashful, angry, sleepy, or sleazy. I was rarely proud of myself at the end of the night, and I had nothing to show for it. The next day, I had less money, less self-respect, less integrity, and less of a reason to believe that tomorrow would be any different than the day before. Every drinking session, we all hope that we're not going to have a hangover, and we all hope that we're not going to be tired the next day at work. And if we are tired and dragging the next day at work, well, that's not tonight's problem to deal with; that's tomorrow me's problem. Sound familiar?
As times change and society and culture changes, the days have come and gone when our favorite TV and movie stars chain-smoked cigarettes and solved every problem with a bottle of whiskey in some hole-in-the-wall bar. Think about today's modern culture compared to what you saw back in the 1970s, or the '80s, or the '90s. A 50-year-old celebrity used to look like Archie Bunker, Red Fox, Fay Dunaway, Marlon Brando, and Jack Nicholson. Whereas 50-year-olds today look like Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston, Jared Leto, Rob Lowe, and Tom Cruise. More celebrities now, more than ever, are joining the sobriety movement, including these superheroes: Batman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Venom, and Nick Fury. What, wow!
In recent years, trends like Sober October have been popularized by Joe Rogan, and a lot of people who found themselves drinking heavily during the pandemic—myself included—are now snapping out of it and waking up to the idea of cutting back on their own alcohol. Comment down below if you're drinking way more than normal during the pandemic. People care more now, today, about their physical health and their mental health. People are eating better, exercising regularly, and cutting back on not only alcohol but also tobacco, fast foods, processed foods, and sugar. Regardless of how old you are and what generation you come from, we're all only as wise as the quality of information that we currently have at our disposal.
It used to be cool to smoke cigarettes, to drink hard liquor. It used to be a sign of rugged masculinity and a right of passage to live life with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. But younger generations today are understanding more and realizing that heavy alcohol use leads to more unstable homes and more domestic violence. And more people today are learning how to not set bad examples and how to better live your life and how to be a more well-rounded person. How many generations went by with sons and daughters referencing their old man sitting in a recliner with a beer and a cigarette, reading the Daily Newspaper? How many of them experienced that to know that they just don't want that for themselves anymore? They don't want to continue passing on generational pain and trauma. They don't want to continue contributing to the problem, and they're more eager to be part of the solution.
Today, more now than ever, people are practicing sobriety, just like you. More people are openly talking about wanting to cut back on alcohol and making other better decisions in their own lives. And more people, just like you, are interested in self-improvement, and self-care, and self-awareness. We all, all know that our parents did the best that they could. But all of us, at the end of the day, regardless of how easy or difficult our lives may have started out, we all have the opportunity to learn more, to earn more, to grow more, and to do more. We all have the opportunity to stop being a victim of life circumstances and rely on effort instead of hope, to rely on achievements over intoxication, to be more accountable instead of coming up with more excuses.
We all know that alcohol leads to a higher risk of cancer and diseases, high blood pressure, heart disease. The alcohol ages your brain, causes liver disease, kidney damage, gastrointestinal issues. Alcohol damages your DNA, and alcohol can also lead to pancreatic cancer, of which the survival rate is only 7.4%. Heavy alcohol use can also cause memory loss, nerve tissue damage, headaches, sleep disorders, hormone disruption, weakening of the immune system, depression, anxiety, and mental health problems. More people today know that the cards are stacked against them. They know that Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Health, Big Agriculture, Big Food companies, the entertainment industry, social media, and the alcohol industry are all fighting for our attention, keeping us focused on what to eat, how to medicate, how to entertain ourselves, and how to live our lives.
How many people out there are still relying on doctors to undo the damage of decades of neglect instead of focusing on regular daily maintenance that we all need by way of more healthy habits? How many people out there still rely on therapists and pills to fix their mental health while doing nothing to improve the other areas of their lives? Again, it's our job to be part of the solution, not the problem.
I know you probably identify with a feeling of being stuck, like you're in a rut, like you're not making the progress that you feel like that you deserve. I know because I've been there, which is why I decided to quit drinking in the first, first place. I was tired of being depressed every day and feeling anxiety every day. I was tired of drinking to numb the pain and drinking to cope with the life that I was living. I thought that I couldn't be myself without a drink. I thought that I couldn't have fun without a drink, and I thought I couldn't socialize without a drink. When the truth is, after quitting alcohol, I made it one of my goals to be me, for free; to save money, to improve my health, to increase my longevity, to do everything that I could not to end up like my dad, who passed, pass away at 71 years old from prostate cancer.
Did you know that in a recent study, researchers found that men who drank heavily from their mid-teens to almost age 50, who drank at least seven drinks per week—that's only one drink a day—were three times more likely to get high-grade prostate cancer? We have people from all ages, from all over the world, who are here in this community, and I want to take a moment to specifically congratulate all of you who are 60 years old and older who decided that you're not too old to be and feel your best, because you don't want to live your last days with constant trips to the doctor, because you don't want to be on a dozen daily medications. For those of you who are making small, incremental changes each day to lower your stress, to improve what you eat, to increase your daily exercise, cutting back on not just alcohol but also tobacco, processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and sugar, it makes me happy to know that your sons and your daughters won't have to feel the pain of losing you prematurely like I did with my own father. And I'm incredibly grateful for my mom, who just turned 70, but looks at least 10 years younger. But since she's probably watching this video, I'll say that she looks at least 20 years younger.
We only have so much time in this life to make forever memories with the people that we care about the most. We only have so much time to put in the effort to have the life that we deserve. We only have so much time to stop taking life and all the things that we have for granted. If you woke up without pain today, it's nothing short of a miracle, so treat it that way. There will be a final day that you wake up healthy. There will be a final day that you get to drive your own car to go to work, to call that friend that you haven't spoken to in years, probably over an argument when you had, when you were drunk, or to see those family members for the holidays. There will be a last time that you get to walk on your own, to mow your own lawn, to dress yourself, to make your family dinner.
I don't care what trivial issues you have in your life right, right now. I don't care if you're laid on your bills, if you hate your job, or if you're out of shape. All of those things can and will change, and most importantly, you can change for the better. And if you believe in you, I want you to comment down below and say, "I'm ready to make a change."
Now, let's put it to practice. When this video is over, I want you to text somebody that you care about or use that very same device to give someone a call. Commit to those holiday plans. Tell somebody that you miss them, that you care about them, that you've been thinking about them. Invite someone to coffee, to lunch, to dinner. It's time to get out of your head and back into your life, sober. If you haven't yet, don't forget to give this video a thumbs up, and we always love hearing from you, so don't forget to leave a comment in the comment section down below. But if you're ready to binge-watch another one of our episodes, we have hundreds more just for you, so do us both a favor and click the link in the top corner of the screen. And with that, I want to wish you good luck on your self-improvement journey, and I will see you in the next video. If you want to see another one of our videos, click [Music] here.