 Hi, this is Roseanne from the alcohol-free lifestyle program. I'm an enrollment and journey coach and I just celebrated 10 months living the alcohol-free life just a few days back. When I started my journey living alcohol-free, I was a divorced retiree living in Yuma, Arizona, who was desperately trying to work on her lost confidence and the persistent feeling that I was not lovable. I volunteered a lot locally but I didn't really believe in my heart that I had anything valuable to offer anyone else and secretly I could barely stand looking in the mirror. So much has changed throughout my journey over the last 10 months. Now I have one of the best jobs in the world because I get to witness lives being transformed daily during the period of 90 days and beyond. I live life with a skip in my step and I absolutely love to laugh. It is without a doubt one of the reasons I was inspired enough to start working with this program. I am stepping in for James Swanick today on some of his podcasts moving forward. So no pressure, right? I'm just trying to step into the shoes of a trained ESPN news broadcaster with a charming Aussie accent and a TV personality. This is crazy. James' favorite thing to do with his clients and of course I was one of them is to stretch them into uncomfortable roles as to create true and lasting change. I'm living proof of that massive change in the alcohol freedom lifestyle program as is my guest Steve Aguiar who is 51 years old from Elk Grove, California and works for the city of Livermore as an environmental compliance supervisor. Steve is only a few days behind me in his alcohol-free journey and we are going to talk to Steve about how he lost a whopping 60 pounds in this journey has developed a positive outlook on his life and better relationships with his wife and those who he works with. Thank you so much Steve for joining me on my first podcast. I so appreciate it. I was happy to be here. And by the way when are you going to be 10 months alcohol free? In two days. So congratulations. Thank you. Hey let's start with telling people about what your life looked like before you started this journey being alcohol free. Okay well it's a good time to be doing this podcast as we start a new year because last January where I was at I was as Rosanne said I work as environmental compliance supervisor so basically I work in local government. I do environmental wastewater water regulations. After 23 years I'll be honest with you not super exciting. I was getting up every day. I have a very long commute. Get up at 4 a.m. drive 40 miles take a train do it was a little bike ride then it's a longer bike right now. But I get up every day just you know I hate my commute. I hate my job. Just a bad attitude. I mean it was now that I look back where I'm at now I was setting up each day to have a bad day for failure. Still the same job. I come in here with just a way different outlook. As you said I'm 51 going to be 52 this summer. Public service got good pension. Going to be out here in three and a half years so I just kind of changed the way I look at my job in my past. I've had a lot of responsible for four inspectors. I've trained a lot of inspectors three years and that's one thing. Early on as I moved up in my career and moved up into management I really enjoyed that. Along the way I just I lost that. I've got two new staff two millennials that are just awesome. They break the mold. Whatever you think of millennials my two they're not like that especially working through this COVID stuff. So I've kind of just refocused in this program. I've run it for like I said 23 years. These wastewater programs I did started in the mid 80s. So I've kind of been the steward of this longer than anyone else in this program in this city. So I'm looking more of just moving on passing the torch, building them up, getting them in a position to take over for me when I go on. So it's just kind of changed the outlook instead of looking at the job. Just kind of reframing it and what I could focus on and that's something I enjoy doing. And the clarity from being alcohol free has helped me to look at the same job and look at different opportunities in it. Very cool. Tell me about your drinking habits prior to starting. So yeah that's one thing about once you know I like the 90 days and further because when you start out you're like yeah I kind of drank like this. Once you separate from that and you really get clarity and you really start looking back at how you could get a real honest picture of how you were drinking. So I was going down when I called James to join the 30 day program. I look back now as a real fork in the road. I was you know weekend drinker, binge drinker. And then the last like couple years it started going into how I'm going to get a pint before the train. Maybe a half pint of vodka before you know and then drinking it was starting to become an everyday thing and it was becoming you know starting to scare myself, scare my wife. My wife never really you know she wasn't one that she didn't hassle me like you got a quick drinking. She's like you just gotta check yourself. You know throttle it back. This or that and you know and before I joined what hadn't happened I mean so when I look back at drinking I remember my last binge and my wife was so upset. Not you know and it wasn't anger. It was like you're just never never happy. What's wrong? You're not happy. You're not the guy you know I'm married and that made me really stop in my tracks. I wasn't happy with my drinking myself and then I was seeing it impact her and then you know that day like I remember my last day or my first day of sobriety or whatever. Yeah I would call it sobriety. Not drinking. Not being that you know I look at it alcohol-free now but that first day you know I laid in like on my couch just depressed as hell. And that's kind of one of that you know I think when you think about drinking now that's my memory of that day and that talk with her. It's not it's good. It forced me to action but it's not a good one. I don't associate a lot of positive thoughts when I look back at drinking now and that's that's one of the big one to the forefront and that's when I you know I'd been looking at stuff before that I'd been looking up stuff and that's how the Project 90 Alcohol 30 things started popping up in ads and I started watching James' video and that's when I decided I gotta you know make a change. In terms of your health where were you health-wise at the beginning of your journey? So I was a whopping 251 pounds and Roseanne could post a picture later so that was at the same time I take a train right home and that picture she posted look at it because that guy you're looking at that chubby guy that's me after having I remember that day a pint of beer having kind of sluggish just got a red shirt on a big barrel-chested boiler you can see it's not it's not flattering but my friend on the train had took that and in text me that picture and I looked up over him you know because he's sitting at the other train and I'm like all right all right I'm gonna change this you know but that picture was before the the incident I told you before I called during probably another three or four weeks went by but I've changed it now. 251 pounds on medication for a mild high blood pressure I was taking medication for gout which you know what do you think the trigger for that was alcohol since then no blood pressure medication and no gout medication at all I take nothing I rarely take Tylenol or anything like that last time I took Tylenol when I was up in the my cycling and my back was just was an injury it was just you know fatigue so it's a it's a real good spot now. Wow you know you you said you started in the 30-day no alcohol challenge program and surprisingly I did too our paths are so similar but tell me about what happened after the 30 that you thought you wanted more what were the what were the conversations what was going on in that program that made you feel good about it but thought yeah I could use a little bit more. So the 30-day was great the videos were great I did the 47-day habit hacker at the same time Black had a problem getting out of bed so in the 47 47-day habit hackers you know the tool three two one get out of bed and go so I have a different routine now from that but anyways after the 30 days you know I was really engaged in that and I engaged with people on the Facebook page and I was doing good I wasn't drinking but I didn't feel after the 30 days I didn't feel confident that I had made a shift and let me tell you so you know I lost 60 pounds I cycle a lot um that's not a comeback I've been here I've been here before I've done that before in was it 1998 so it was more out of college college friends make a plan of meeting you know started a family getting a little chubby started running and I ran in ended up training did the San Francisco Marathon so any of you runners out there you know you can't run long just doesn't drink so obviously I wasn't drinking at that time I went from probably I was probably like 205 210 so I was really like I was skinny in high school I was a small guy as I was barely six foot 140 pounds when I was a senior in high school so let me tell you when you're a skinny guy and then you get in your late 20s and you start putting on weight especially with guys no one has any problem about telling you how fat you are no town you know and I you know I could take it and rub it you know it's ah whatever but you know deep down it it it hurt me and I'd play it off like it didn't hurt me and that does you know affect your confidence so um so 1998 went from 215 210 ish to I don't I weighed 172 when I did the San Francisco Marathon so uh you know running 26 miles and then I did that then I went back up in 2002 I ran a marathon up on nireland this time I got up to like 230 and I got down so it's actually stronger I got down to I ran that at about 190 and I'm about 188 189 pounds now so I've done that I've done that and I gave up alcohol at those times I've done that before I've been I've been at that spot and I had started losing weight in the 30 days um I couldn't sign up fast enough for the 90 days because I really wanted a shift in the way of my relationship with alcohol the way I saw it those other times I did it I was like okay I'm gonna run this marathon I made it a finish line and I made and I kind of associated the drinking with that so it was like okay I reached the finish line I go back and I didn't want this to be another finish line there's no finish line I wanted to change my relationship the way I see alcohol and not see it as something I give up I know that's the theme of the program I truly believe that now it is it's a choice I'm choosing to be alcohol-free I love that I made that choice I make it every day I could drink I can tell you right now I can go back hey and I could probably convince my wife I'm gonna have you know one or two drinks with that and I probably do it for a while but you know it's opening for me and I know myself and I know I know my past I know the way I'm with alcohol it's me I don't even want to I don't know it's cracking that door open and one and two becomes back to do to what you were what you don't want to be so that was what I was really I was looking for that shift in between you know here in my head right and yeah and that's um that's actually something I wanted to talk to you about too because a lot of people don't understand that Project 90 is actually a coaching program about how to live your best life right and you're just putting alcohol over here and going okay let's see what I can accomplish without that right yeah very very few conversations we have in there are about alcohol it's more about how to handle life and life's uh flips and problems and things throwing being thrown at you because a lot of times like you know what we do is a problem comes and you feel helpless and we go okay right so tell me something that happened inside Project 90 for you that was really a turning point in your relationship with looking at alcohol differently what do you think it's hard to pinpoint it to one there were you know there's so many good good moments into it before we go into that I just want to say yeah that the most I've talked about drinking was just in that last question you asked me back from all the Project 90 things that's really the most I've ever really you know talked about the specifics so um it's it's much more than that so I think you know for me it's just you know coming in the weekly calls and hearing everybody and seeing where just different people different parts of the world uh where they're at um and kind of the similarities of just you know hey I know I want to be I want to be a better you know a father mother um just you know a better person it just just those goals and seeing other people go through that and then you see similarities with with other people um you know it's hard the ship it's hard to pinpoint but it was just like it happened pretty quick you know because at the 30 day I was still like still kind of feel like I'm giving up something and then uh and then it's that shift was just like now I'm gaining just when you see other people like when you start you see other people ahead and you see how much they've gained and you go man there's there's more to gain it's not you're not giving up it's you're gaining it's free I feel so much more free right now I mean let me see if I can provide a cue for you since I went through with you and I'm not sure I was in the beginning meetings where you you started a pumpkin patch at work no idea why you did that but that ended up being a big focus for all of us tell us about why you did the pumpkin patch what you gained from it why it was important okay so that was the the beginning of the covid and uh my my boss our division manager is high risk and she needs to be at home uh so she she needed one of her management team to step up so you know I said I do it and uh which was great because I had you know started the alcohol free journey um so the the clear head the clarity even though it was in the beginning uh was good that I was getting so anyways I all of a sudden I go I manage like five or six people I go I've got the whole division at 60 it's times of uncertainty people are you know worried you know that we have to be here well water wastewater we provide service and essential so we had to come in so anyways I had wanted to grow big pumpkins in my backyard of my wife so we don't have room to do that so I started it's that's how it started and then I was growing the seeds here in the office window and people are like what are you doing I said I'm going to grow some big ass pumpkins in this little plot of land here and then it kind of grew and they're like hey well can I help I had people that I'm telling you some of these people are the most honoree people just you know I think they operate a wastewater plant that's a sewage treatment plant you know they're great guys but they're like well yeah hey can I help um and so kind of just the life of its own and it grew grew for me to do it I ended up planting like three rows we had over a hundred hundred pumpkins and it ended up being a good I go uh team building thing and that was kind of just it's good that you brought that up because that was the kind of shift we started seeing the shift in or where I started seeing the shift in my attitude and me drinking I still probably would have stepped up with my boss I had a had a shitty attitude about it why do these people get to be home we got to come into here we're the canary in the coal mine we're the guinea pig we get a little bit and I was just I just really started focusing on people when they come in and tell me that what the I go hey it is what it is we gotta we have to be here you know um and they were like you know they some people had a nickname for me they would call me mr happy because when I'd come in the office on that bike and I kind of explained how it was and it was like you know mr happy was a sarcastic way and it's just like you know I look back now and I'm like man I don't want the I don't want the world to see me that way you know oh here comes mr happy you know and this is sarcastic thing um so just started doing that and I just tried to be and without try because I was just being more positive um and just keep everybody's everybody's spirits up and you know I needed them to come in and uh and you know we had we had our challenges you know people were like go management down at city hall is not telling me that and I just told people I say hey you want to know something come in my office I will tell you everything I need to know I go these are unprecedented times and it might be something I shouldn't share with staff but I'm in charge and I get to run this the way I want and it's a pandemic and this is that so I'm going to throw some rolls out and lead and do do what I think's right I had a couple people come in um probably violated a couple hit the laws but um we're here later they're fine nothing happened that's just um so uh and that was really the beginning of the shift and I was just like going this is great and then you get the you get you know positive um feedback from people you know and then with the COVID not seeing a lot of people um not going in a lot of other departments in city hall there's a gap that people didn't see me they saw 251 then they saw maybe 220 or 200 pounds even they're like whoa what's going on and then uh I'm like hey I went I decided to be alcohol-free I've been cycling like crazy and and and this or that so um well that's um a big shift of something we talk about a lot is I get to so tell us about the things you've got to start doing that maybe you wouldn't have done otherwise okay so well let's start at the beginning of the morning I get to take a commuter train I get to take a commuter train that hits cars breaks down it's late um I get to you know this is a big one for me because the commute the life of a super commuter out here in the San Francisco Bay it's it's it's tough um but I really I really have changed the way I look at the train I laugh at myself because I started doing the journaling so I get I get to park my car take my bike get on the train I sit down I get to journal I do the journal and that's you know doing the doing the gratitudes it's a really great way to start the day and that's when my day starts when I get on the train and so that's the first thing I do every day I sit down on my thing and write the gratitude write what I want to do for the day do the daily affirmations and then I get to talk to people I have the great friends on the train that just have different jobs different stuff it's not like I didn't talk to them before it's just more engaging and present now I know more about their work I know more what's going on with them some of them in their their personal life um you know it's like someone walks in saying hey how do you how do you go with your daughter this weekend or whatever where before the conversations really weren't weren't as meaningful or whatever I know personally more about some of these folks um and I don't have to be in my car um so we need to talk about the get to with the bike in the back of you because that was okay I'll get to that so then so I can get off at a train station that's three miles from my office and that's what I was doing and coming in after those nights of three or four beers it it was a journey just a sluggish thing so then I started as I got alcohol free I started getting off at the station before coming in I get to ride seven miles this morning and the past couple weeks because I'm doing a new on-site uh online cycling challenge I kind of just bypass work I go out there's in Livermore there's uh we're a wine country out here so if you think of the San Francisco Bay area you think of East Bay you think of Oakland little east of that that's where I'm at in Livermore we've got some rolling hills used to be cattle land when I was a kid um it's kind of grown and expanded more to the berry but we still have wine country we have rolling hills um I right out there so I rode 20 miles before I came to the office this morning and I and I get to do that I feel great um I start out in the dark and as I'm coming go up into the hills as I'm coming out suns rising beautiful it totally come into work with a different attitude and you're still um inspiring others too inside the program by posting beautiful views and just you know people love to see what's ahead of them so thank you for doing that it's been fun to watch your uh your grow tell me about relationships you talked a little bit about um relationship with your wife I know you talked um about her reaction um that day that you kind of decided something had to change but what kind of shifts happened for you um my name's Julie right you and Julie yeah yeah me and Julie so I've been married to her since second marriage since uh 2014 um so it's funny as I look back because when we started dating you know you're always on your you're always on your best behavior you're always at your sweetest when you're courting this or that and so I consciously made a thing with my my drinking you know throttle it you know do less you know and then as we become comfortable or at least I do and you know I started slipping back in the little habits because she was like I didn't realize she drank so much when we had that conversation I'm like yeah um but I would say that the shifts were my wife has always her job is tough I become more a better listener and more sympathetic you know as guys we want to just solve the problem you know and get a new job you know those people there this you know instead of just listening sometimes you sometimes you just gotta listen it's not a problem I'm gonna solve especially now um she's working from home she you know she does this the zoom stuff and like I said I talk to people all day on the train um so usually when I'm home I want that I was finding myself I want to be I've been talking to people all day I've had you know I'm talked out uh so I realized she hasn't seen anybody today except the two dogs and you walking in and she's excited to see you so instead of being like oh why are you talking to me so much you know I just got my foot at the door I want to get on my biking gear I want to just just to pause and listen and listen how her day was and asked how it was and it's such a different it's like the same conversations but it's a different it's different because I have a different attitude walking in seeing that she hasn't seen you all day she hasn't talked to another human being whether I would before I was looking at man I've worked all day I've done this commute I just want to get in changing my clothes and start relaxing so just being more conscientious about other people my spouse's feelings and where where she's at so yeah I think we we use this this concept a lot of being clear and present and I think you're describing that the the result of being clear and present and I guess less reactionary would you say that you became far less reactionary too when you became alcohol free oh yeah definitely that kind of helps marriages right yeah a little bit a little bit yeah just because you know there were times in the past with that it'd be like you know I can I wear my heart and sleep and motions on my shoulders so when I'm irritated it's in you know and I've stood there with my backpack and my stuff and just being like the whole body language like you know and I'm like you know what my body is saying could you shut the hell up so I can use the bathroom and go on so it's just changing so and because I was coming from a place of irritation right because I was just focused on me so being more present go and hey she's been sitting here waiting in your long commute she's been waiting to tell you something or this or that and you should be happy that your wife is excited to see you wants to talk to you instead of you know irritated it's the same conversations it's a it's a different outcome I'm not saying every day is like that because there's some days I come in I'm like I gotta go to the bathroom I gotta do you know but overall it's more it's it's more that way and I don't start the evening out irritated which is not a good way to start the the few hours I waiting hours I have at home with my wife how um you have some kids too have you noticed um how it's affected any relationship with your children uh I would like to say yes I'd like to see my kids more I've got I've got four kids uh they are 27 25 23 and 21 so my son is off on the other on the east coast of the marines we have two daughters one at one's at UC Santa Cruz and one's at Long Beach so it's more of the text and then my my other daughter lives at home with her mom and she's off with her boyfriend all the time so they're the typical 20 year olds in fact before I got on here I just text my ex-wife I said have you heard from our youngest because I texted her last week and then I called her and said just let dad know it's okay I'm like she texted my ex-wife text back where I saw oh that's good that you said that because I thought she was mad at me I'll check with her roommate if I don't hear from her so the kids I mean they you know we spent Christmas uh together my three girls my son couldn't make it home so uh and it was funny because the whole alcohol thing uh Julie does a great dinner and she always puts like a menu together so she had a drink menu and so she was telling me oh you could you could you can mix the drinks I'm like I hate mixing drinks when I'm drinking but it was like okay my daughter's and it's like one of them one of them works in a restaurant and he did a little bartending I you know like so but before I would have been okay I'm not drink this is a chip in the attitude because um okay I'm not drinking and you want me to be Isaac from the love boat making drinks right you know but I just said okay I'll do it I don't you know so whatever so my girls came over they wanted to drink we made the first drink and that's when we one of my daughters said you really don't you're not really you don't drink at all down and I'm like no never don't plan on doing it ever again I said look at me you know because they haven't seen me they're like oh my god dad you're so skinny are those skinny jeans I'm like their jeans that fit I wouldn't call them skinny jeans um but um that's awesome no it was good and I don't know you know you worry about your kids and their own drinking when they're in their college years and stuff like that and you know my dad my dad stopped drinking later on in life and he was never one to lecture me but you know my old man had the way to give me that look like you know you better watch it you know um so you know hopefully you know my kids don't don't don't flirt with the dangers that I did but whole you know that's one of the things is where you you know you see yourself moving forward it's like you know I hope I could be you know an example to them of how much life is uh can be better without it you know I mean if you're the person that has one or two drinks and you're fine and and you do leave it at that and it's every now and then um but you know any amount's not not good for you so um if you're inclined to have more it's definitely not good for you I'm sure you're a very good inspiration for your children right now so I wish I would see them more and had had more to add on that but they're the typical 20 year olds living their lives and they're they're they're doing great I'm very proud of that yeah I have four as well and they're spread out all over the country and I feel the same way um but I can only hope that you know what I do moving forward is an inspiration so um I want to share I want to share something about um something that happened for both of us when we were in project 90 in one of those meetings for anybody who's been on a zoom meeting I know but there's something about um sharing in those intimate um group calls about experiences that makes us feel like wow we're not alone because having that loop in our brain about drinking and it's a very lonely loop right um and having the freedom to kind of just talk about different things that go on but there was one time where I was pretty uh emotional and in kind of a happy way because I think it was near the end of my journey and I had said you know I used to feel like a fraud I used to just feel like you know I know you know me and you think you like me but if you really knew and oh my gosh I'm getting emotional when I think about it but you had written me a private message thank you for sharing that Roseanne I felt the exact same way I mean can you share about how you felt when you yeah I heard you say that I saw you you know break down and cry a bit and I'm sitting there going oh this lady so I just said how I feel you know I'm like we could you know even you know you're drinking you're not coming to work you know as James says what are you you know uh what are you you know seven out of ten six out of ten um yeah I think I told him seven out of ten and I was rounded um but you can come to work and you could suck it up and you could put on you know you can get your job done most of us are all really good at our jobs and we get it done it might not be the best of our effort but it's good enough and you know I was never a good enough guy um you know I always want to put my best effort in so when you said that I'm just sitting there going man if people knew people know how I got smashed on the weekend and just wasting my time um I just sort of just really sit with me I wasn't happy with myself you know so it's like yeah if you really if you really knew me and then we're our own worst critics we focus on the negative you know I'm going to focus on that worst thing if I drank last weekend and got hammered it bothered me for weeks you know it'd just be like oh I shouldn't have drank too much Saturday it's Thursday I'm still down about it thinking about it I could have done some great things at work Monday Tuesday Wednesday boss happy but I'm like man if you really knew me you know I was tore up all weekend I you know I wasn't there for my wife I didn't get these things done I'm like you know I drove to the store what about a deuce if I got pulled over all those things I'm like yeah if you really if you saw that guy he's not so great he might be a good employee you might think he's okay but not so great and so um so when you said that I was just like oh man you're crying and you feel bad for that and I'm like I totally think this way I gotta send you a message yeah well thank you for sharing that because it made me feel not alone too and that is one of the reasons that groups and I don't feel that way now I feel like you really knew me now you know this is what 10 months in looks like yeah if you really knew me this is me yeah I gosh love getting rid of that feeling hey before we kind of sign off is there anything that you could share with those people that are listening and they're considering the program and I don't know and you know is there anything you want to share additionally that you haven't about what what has happened for you or how it's helped you that would help them well I would say if you're considering it you're googling it you're searching these ads are starting to pop up you're doing that for a reason you're you know you're doing it for a reason it's a sign um so if you're thinking you probably should um uh and then so now and it's just uh do it life is short and it's I saw man I'm only 10 months in I've made the physical change like I said I've done that before this change between years I think that's always going to be a work in process and that's that's one of the big things I've learned from it that there's no it's not a finish line it's like I complete my 90 days I'm alcohol free I'm never gonna think about this stuff again or this that um that is always continuing trying to uh to better yourself and and and make that choice to be alcohol free the things I got out of it it's just I mean the big thing is I I'm saying let me say it again it's freedom I feel so much freer now and more optimistic about the future I might I was literally approaching you say I just gotta get through today I'm gonna have my beer on the train go home and do it all over again I do not I can't believe I thought that way and I can't believe how long I I let myself think that way so my new word for it is psychological slavery yeah um because there's a loop in your subconscious brain that you're always trying to battle and um just and if I look at the money that I've saved I mean with taking the train stopping at the convenience store I probably to say for the week 90 to 100 boxes to say 100 bucks it's been 10 months just roughly that's four thousand dollars um I'm gonna go into my app I have an app where I track my days so where is it I know the last time I checked I had saved like 800 I can't find it now but I'm 309 days I've saved well over six thousand dollars and just drinking costs alone and that's in covid that's not going out to drink and buying a great martini right um I had saved 800 hours of drinking time but when I add up the mornings that I wasn't operational is probably double that right in 10 months so yeah and then just being smarter with your money there's I can give you example after I had a car repair and I said okay you know is it really this I've done a lot of business with you and I saved like 800 bucks just from a phone call a friendly phone call not going what the hell I looked at this I was just like hey you know I've done a lot of business with you you know I see the parts of it is you know and the guys I'll let me call you back so hey I talked to my service manager we could do this as a recall and only get a cost of 200 bucks it was gonna be like 900 bucks or something and I was like wow hey it pays to be happy right exactly and then just you know the whole I would say some of the biggest things I've always looked at you know obviously I've had fluctuations in my weight and I've always done a diet and I've looked at it as a goal I want to be this way I want to I'm really not I mean I've lost weight um or I do the cycling I want or when I did think I had a goal I want to run a marathon I want 26.2 miles I want to get that done I've shift I'm just like I'm just riding I'm riding a lot I do a virtual challenge online with a bunch of boats I'm actually I used to run like I gotta run 15 miles today part of this training thing and I'd be running angry uh when I was running and now and now it's just like I go out hey I'm doing this and I'm still trying to push myself I still have a distance I want to go um I'm not looking at um this is like a lifestyle it's like I want to be active um I look to the future like I got three daughters and a son and I want and how I want to be remembered how I want to be seen I don't want to be grandpa that had one too many at the family dinner I want my grandkids to go my grandpa that crazy bastard's badass got a big heart but he'll go he can get up and go I want you know I that's you know and that's what we get to we get to write me the future is wide open and uh I mean I can you know I can make bad choices and go back and I can be that guy you know that I've got video proof so if no hope we're not gonna do that um but you know just look to the future what what I want to be I'd look how I want to be remembered here and that's another thing I when I went to city hall right before Christmas someone saw me they're like oh my god Steve you look so different and this was someone I'll be sad work with for years it's her little retirement luncheon um and then I saw someone new and this was this was like kind of a aha moment for me so hey you're that crazy guy that rides all over the place and I go I go yeah I am and she wanted to talk to me about bikes her her uh brother or something worked for one of the bike specialized bikes and I said oh that's my bike that I have and uh I walked away from that and I was thinking I like that you're the crazy guy that rides all over the place because I go riding that luncheon before work and I because when I came here 20 years ago I was a crazy young kid that ran everywhere I'd run on my lunch times and I'm like maybe I can you know if I go out I've got four or five more years I I want people to think bad of me because there's plenty here they're getting older that you know they're not the conferences with me we go and we haven't you know we go and have a good time oh you guys are going in for the night no I don't got a speaker so tomorrow we're going out having fun uh so I would like the new people that are coming here and there's a big you know that we got an aging workforce uh I'm on the lower end of that I'm 52 um but a lot of people are going out a lot of new people are coming in just a great time to be alcohol-free with new people coming into the workplace hopefully grandkids coming at some point in my life and um and me figuring out what I want to do in my retirement years looks like you've started uh a little figure out a little something here and shining success from uh from pupil to teacher so yay Roseanne and uh be part of your first podcast here uh hopefully having bored people to to to death here and uh you could show them that picture if you want to edit that in or something it's it's it's glorious I definitely will Steve I um I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing my first podcast with me thanks for asking me I couldn't have planned for a better you know uh chat and podcast it's just been great going through this process with you and seeing your progress and sharing each other on so thank you for being here now you're welcome it's a pleasure okay we'll see you soon okay take care thanks for listening to the alcohol-free lifestyle podcast I want to load you up with some free stuff right now so if you want to go to jameswanick.com slash guide I will send you my quit alcohol guide which has helped six figure entrepreneurs and top professionals produce or quit drinking you can also text the word quit guide to the number 44222 if you're in the US of course it doesn't really work anywhere outside of the US but if you're in the US on your mobile phone and you'd like that guide text the word quit guide to the number 44222 or you can go to jameswanick.com slash guide if you'd like to schedule a free 15-minute call with one of my top coaches just an exploratory call to see if or how we can help you then you can go to jameswanick.com slash schedule or you can text the word project 90 to the number 44222 if you're listening in the US on a mobile phone that's jameswanick.com slash schedule or you can text the word project 90 that's one word project 90 to the number 44222 feel free to send me a direct message over on my instagram account which is at jameswanick you can also watch video episodes of this podcast and a series of other educational videos on my youtube channel which is jameswanick one or you can direct message me on facebook at jameswanick official and finally a request would you please now write a short review of the podcast inside of the apple podcast app on your phone or on itunes on your desktop computer would you please give the show five stars and write a quick one or two sentence review this will help the show get in front of even more listeners potentially transforming someone's life you can rate and review the show inside of your apple podcast app on your phone or over on itunes on your desktop thank you so much and i'll catch you next time