 So I am six years alcohol-free today on this day six years ago I was in Austin, Texas at the South by Southwest Festival And I woke up with a hangover and I went to an I hop an international house of pancakes I went there to have a hangover breakfast because I was like, oh man Got this headache. I had a couple of Bombay sapphire gin and tonics the night before anyway The sight of those I hop menus with the big bright bold colors and these fat people around me eating like all you can eat Pancakes with maple syrup and whipped cream made me go. Oh, I have to take a break So I decided I was gonna take a 30-day break from alcohol just to see if I could do it now up until that point I was just a social drinker. I'd have a few drinks during the week a glass of wine here A glass of wine there and then on the weekends I'd go a little harder drink more excessively go out on a Friday night Saturday night Sunday I'd watch football or sport have some beers. I was never an alcoholic But I always drank enough where it was just like a habit, you know I kind of needed to drink on some occasions as well like I was stressed out So I'm like I just need a couple of beers or a glass of wine just to calm me down and then on weekends It's like I'm going to a party. I'm going to a wedding. I'm watching football I'm gonna have to drink and it was like this social pressure to drink, right? Or this it was ingrained in my culture that it was just normal to drink So when I decided to take a 30-day break from alcohol, it was a big deal It was like how the hell am I actually gonna go 30 days? How am I gonna get through 30 days? But I did and the first seven days was kind of tough My sleep was a little bit kind of weird and disjointed and people were going out and I was like locking myself in I can't go out. This is gonna be boring and dull and then I finally went out and socialized and I had water I set a piece of lime as my go-to drink or I had a diet coke or a soda and I didn't spend a lot of money. So I saved a lot of money All of a sudden my sleep started to get better and then my sleep started to get amazing then when I woke up in the morning I had more energy I'm like jumping up and down and feeling good and then I realized that I was starting to lose weight I was like a bit puffy in the face and I looked in the mirror I'm like just think I'm losing a little bit of weight and I got on the scales and sure enough I was dropping pounds and then people started telling me going well James you look terrific if you've been working out What's going on? I hadn't been working out. It was just the poison from the alcohol was leaving my skin I was no longer dehydrated after 30 days get this I lost 13 pounds of fat 13 13 pounds and 30 days. I lost just from quitting out drinking I slept better had more clarity had more focus and when I got to 30 days. I went damn I feel so good I'm just gonna keep on going so I kept on going and I got to 40 days And I went I'm see if I can get to 50 days and I got to 50 days I went I'm gonna see if I can get to three months and then I got to three months and guess what happened I got my my dream job I landed a job hosting Sports Center on ESPN as a TV presenter And I credit me getting that job to the fact that I wasn't drinking because I had this clarity had this focus Relationship started to get better in other words instead of me hanging out with a bunch of people who get drunk all the time And like spending all their money on cash I was spent I was starting to naturally attract people into my life who were more interested in deeper conversations Who were more interested in health and fitness and nutrition and happiness? I started going to the gym. I started lifting weights like this So they're getting some they really can't really show you through the shirt, but I've got trust me Muscles going on now. So I started exercising started getting strong in the gym Saving money money money so much money. I say when you're drinking man. It just goes You spent $50 here $30 there $100 there a couple bottles of wine there that stuff adds up So when I quit drinking I wasn't spending the money on alcohol. So I had more money In here in my in my my pocket So I just kept going and going and going and going and my friends are like, dude What are you doing here? Have a drink have a drink and I'm like now I'm too strong I'm too strong in mine too strong So just kept going and going and going and I got to one year and I was back in Austin back at the south by Southwest Festival I went to the luster pearl bar in Austin and I went in order to Budweiser to go and celebrate one year without Drinking and I went to put it to my mouth and I smelt it and I gotta be honest. It's not really good I was like, oh, this is gonna taste good. I went to put it to my mouth and at the last moment I went, you know what? The benefits and the pros and all the positives of not drinking Far outweigh any temporary pleasure that I'm gonna get from having this beer So I just went you know what I changed my mind give me a water ice and a piece of lime instead So the barman took the drink back gave me a water ice and a piece of lime I drank that and guess what? I haven't touched alcohol since have not touched a drop of alcohol. It's six years today Six years today since I woke up with that hangover and when I'm gonna take a 30-day challenge I'm not drinking and so here I am now jumping up and down Feeling good feeling fresh Feeling energized doesn't mean I go through down patches I do sometimes I get a little bit depressed about things sometimes I get stressed out But now rather than reaching for a drink and alcohol and beer and wine to try and calm my nerves and relieve my stress Now I just go and exercise I run or I breathe or I listen to the calm app You can download it in iTunes. It's called calm CALM or headspace, which is another good one Or I'll call a friend or I have a nice tall glass of ice cold water. So I'm not putting more dead calories into my body I'm not dehydrating myself. I'm not feeling tired and lethargic. I'm not coughing up money the whole time So now I'm feeling awesome. Is it your turn? Is it your turn to take a 30-day break from alcohol? I've closed down the 30-day no alcohol challenge program in in March. It's closed You can't get in right now. I closed it down, but I'm reopening it on March 27th So if you want to go in April 30 days 30 days in September April there's 30 days in April So if you want to do 30 days without alcohol in April go to 30 day no alcohol challenge.com put your email address in there on the Early bird notification list. I'll send you an email to remind you on the 27th when you can enroll again If you want to do it go to 30daynoalcoholchallenge.com Thank you so much for watching this video Don't forget to subscribe to my channel by clicking right here and make sure you put your phone up and follow me on snapchat You know, you put your phone up and you take the screenshot and you automatically follow you on snap You know what I'm talking about you can do that right there when you do that You're gonna be able to follow my daily life little 10-second videos And I'm gonna be giving you awesome little tips on how to live the good life So go ahead subscribe here follow me on snapchat there and I'll wait for you