 Hey everyone, this is Victoria English. I am a top coach with James Swanwick, Project 90, and I am hijacking James' podcast because I have a few things on my mind that I'm going to talk about with you. You know, back before I was a coach, back before I stopped drinking alcohol, I had a lot of thoughts around alcohol. In fact, I would go so far as to say I had beliefs around alcohol. Things that I absolutely thought were true. Just like the sky is blue, the grass is green, and alcohol is relaxing. That was a big one. How about you guys? Alcohol relieves anxiety. It's a stress reducer. Yes, I absolutely believe that to be true. So let's examine that. You know, what I like about coaching is that we don't look at things with any sort of judgment. We look at it with curiosity. Well, okay, you think that you think and believe that alcohol is relaxing and reduces stress and anxiety. Yeah, let's take a look at it. Figure out your own answer to it. So, hmm, where did we even come up with this idea that alcohol is what we need to relax, to feel less stressed? Where did we come up with that? Well, take a look around you. Let's start with when you were younger. What did you see growing up? When you were a kid, did you see relatives, family members, friends, parents come in from a long day, either at work or in the home and pop a drink? Did they pour themselves a martini? Did they crack open a beer? Did they pull that cork out of the bottle of wine? And just take a big swig and relax. Well, that's one way you may have gotten that message. How about society? What do you see on TV? What do you see in commercials? Any kind of show and movie? What do you see when people are having a rough time? Maybe there's conflict at work or there's a relationship issue or something happens in the world that's distressing. What do people do? Do they gather on a hiking trail? Do they gather around a piano without a drink? Or do they gather at a bar? Or do you see people come home when they're exhausted from work in a movie, a TV show? They go to their cabinet and they pull out that bottle of wine? Relaxation. There's a lot of messages coming our way that tell us what alcohol is supposed to be. I realize now that I internalize those messages. I believe them. Maybe you have too. I don't feel ashamed of it. I was just internalizing what I'd learned, what I'd been, what had been modeled for me, you know, what everyone else seemed to be doing. It seemed to work okay for them. So it's no wonder that we have that belief. But let's look at a few things. What is relaxation? Relaxation is the absence of stress and anxiety. It's not suppressing it. It's not numbing out. It's not checking out. It's not ignoring stressors or problems in life. It's the absence of stressors or anxiety producing things in life. Well, if you have a life without stress or anxiety of any sort at any time, sign me up. I want your life. Being human is a package deal, right? And part of that package is we're going to have curve balls. We're going to have things that stress us out that we feel anxious about. It's just part of the deal. And that's okay. But what is alcohol? And how did we ever get sold that promise that it was going to do the trick? That it was going to get rid of those things for us? Well, I don't know. Have you ever woken up after a night of drinking and had fewer problems than you had the night before? I didn't. It was much more likely that I would have maybe even more in varying degrees, right? But let's talk about why that happens as well and why it doesn't always deliver on that promise of creating relaxation, no stress, no anxiety. Alcohol as a substance. And I love this part because it's just the facts. What is alcohol? Alcohol is a highly addictive substance. What does it do to us? Well, when we're just going through our day, our body has a wonderful thing called homeostasis. Homeostasis allows us to regulate our body temperature, our heart rate, our respiratory system, all kinds of things. It also allows us to heal. So an example of homeostasis is the last time you had a fever. How do you know you're sick? You start feeling achy and chilled and your body temperature goes up. Well, we know that that's your body's efforts to fight an invader, something that's bad for you. So when do you know you're getting better? Your fever starts to go down. You don't have chills and body aches. You say, oh, I'm getting better. Body's amazing that way. So alcohol is an interesting substance because with most drugs, there's a stimulant or a depressant. Alcohol actually acts as both. When we first ingest alcohol, it increases the feel-good chemicals in our brain. So that first 30 minutes or so, it does what it says it's going to do. It makes us feel better, gives us that increased serotonin and dopamine. It also kicks up our cortisol and adrenaline. Well, that's our fight or flight and stress chemicals. So that's okay sometimes if a lion's chasing you. Not so good when you're trying to unwind. So imagine this. What if alcohol didn't do its job for 30 minutes? What if it took us straight to the next morning? What if 30 minutes after you drank it, you had a headache, nausea, a dry mouth, a sick stomach regret over what you may have said or done, and you didn't feel like working too hard that day? What if that happened after 30 minutes? Do you think many people would drink it? I don't think so. I wouldn't have. I would have said, no, that makes me feel awful. There's no upside to it. But that's just the science of it. It does deliver on its promises for those 30 minutes. The problem is, what's our body do after that increase in dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline, and cortisol? Our body is trying to go back to homeostasis. So it goes up like this and then it crashes down. That's why the next morning you don't feel so well, aside from the fact that you've ingested toxins. But your brain chemistry is altered and not in a good way this time. You're not clinking your glasses and laughing. You're thinking, ah, I feel lousy. Oh, I wasn't going to do that. I wasn't going to have that much. I was going to wait until the weekend, darn it. Today's going to be long. I have a headache. I'm going to be late to work. I don't feel like completing that project. The kids are driving me nuts. It's so loud. I just want to rest. It's kind of a heavy price to pay. So why do we keep doing it? Well, as I mentioned previously, it changes your brain. It creates neural pathways in your brain that tell you this is what we need. This is what we do. This is what we need to relax. It's also addictive. Now, I don't throw out around the word addiction lightly. It's, again, it's just science. It creates a pattern of dependence. And again, what is society telling us? Have a drink. You'll feel better. So it's only natural that we could fall into some unhealthy patterns with this. The problem is we get real tied up in it. We start to think that maybe it's a reflection on who we are as a person. Maybe there's something wrong with me. Am I just that weak? Don't I have any willpower? It's not about that, you guys. There's no need for shame. It's just the nature of the beast. This is alcohol. It makes you feel good for a little bit. Then it makes you feel bad. When we give up alcohol for a time, it helps our body return to homeostasis. And so guess what? You get to figure out what actually truly is relaxing. I don't know about you, but when I was drinking, I kind of forgot. I lost touch with what relaxed me, what actually made me feel good, really good, with no downside. As a coach, I love helping people rediscover what they used to like, what used to light them up before they relied on alcohol to do it, with the light getting dimmer and dimmer and dimmer over time. And I love also helping them discover that curiosity about what's possible next. Now that I'm not drinking, wow, I have a lot more money. I've lost some weight. I'm feeling more energetic, more optimistic. I love watching them go for their goals when alcohol isn't making their choices anymore, isn't dimming their light, isn't making them feel like they're not capable. So there's a lot of possibilities to find relaxation, stress reduction, less anxiety when you're not putting a substance which is scientifically proven to increase anxiety and stress. So I hope that was helpful. I'm really excited about sharing these topics because the world is changing. The conversation we're having around alcohol is changing. And personally, I was kind of ticked off that I had been sold those messages and believed them. What did that really accomplish? It put a lot of money into the alcohol producers and the marketers' pockets. It took a lot out of my pocket. And I didn't find that relaxation and relief that I've been seeking. But I have found it now. And so I love sharing it with you guys. If you want to learn more about this, about our Project 90, about what we do over here, please email me at victoria, victoria at alcoholfreelifestyle.com. You can also download James Swanwick's free guide about taking a break or giving up alcohol. And you can find that at alcoholfreelifestyle.com. If you want to learn more about Project 90, what is it that we do, it's pretty cool. You can find that at alcoholfreelifestyle.com forward slash project 90. I will see Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I want to load you up with some free stuff. If you look in the show description, there's a link there to get my guide, which is the Alcohol Freedom Formula Guide. And in that guide, I will walk you through the process and system for successfully reducing or quitting alcohol. It's the same system and process that I give to my clients inside of Project 90. And if you would like to get your hands on that guide, you can click the link in the description part of this episode, or you can go to alcoholfreelifestyle.com forward slash guide. Likewise, if you would like to be considered for Project 90 to join our community and get some accountability, some coaching and have fun, achieve some goals over at least 90 days with our help and support, then you're invited to schedule a complimentary coaching call with one of my coaches. You can do that by clicking the link in the show description or going to alcoholfreelifestyle.com forward slash schedule. Now Project 90 is for over 30s only. And it's really for people who are ready to get long-term power over alcohol. You don't have to quit forever, but you will have to quit for at least 90 days with our support. Just a reminder, 95% of my content is free and plastered all over the internet. If you just Google James Swanik and the word alcohol, you'll find that. For those of you who want additional support, if you want coaching, fun, accountability, if you realize that you can't do this on your own or you just plain don't want to, then I invite you to schedule that call and we can talk about if Project 90 is for you. If you would like to take some of my supplements, swanvitality.com is the website. I'll put a link in the show notes as well. I have a liver support product called Loving Liver, which I designed and specially formulated to help remove toxins from your liver after years of alcohol consumption. Again, there's a link in the show description. We've also got a green powder there, which turns into a green juice filled with amazing ingredients to support you and give you energy throughout the day. And there's also a magnesium product, which I take every night to help me prepare for sleep and to sleep through the night. So there's a few options there. Lastly, if this episode or the show in general has helped you or supported you in any way, I would so appreciate it if you would write a review. It really does help the show climb the rankings and expose the show to people who don't yet know about us. So if this show has benefited you in any way and you feel compelled to pay it forward, just writing a short little review, hopefully a nice one. We'll be so appreciated and I will thank you immensely. Lastly, if you'd like to talk to me about anything at all, feel free to send me an email at James at alcoholfreelaststyle.com. I do read and respond to every email. And you can also follow me on Instagram at atjameswanick, send me a message there. And I look forward to connecting with you soon. Catch you on the next one.