 Phillip Smith, 59 from Greensboro, North Carolina, is now more than 90 days alcohol-free. Phillip, do you know what day you're on, alcohol-free? I believe I'm on 105. 105 days alcohol-free. Right. Fantastic. And how are you feeling now compared to day one? I feel great. Feel much better. Much clearer, more energy, and just kind of a more even keel, I guess, than I was before. So just tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do and what inspired you to want to quit drinking in the first place. So I'm an attorney and work in-house for a corporation. And I think in terms of what inspired me to want to stop drinking, one was that my wife really was on me to stop drinking, and I had wanted to stop drinking for a long time. I tried a lot of things, AA just never appealed to me. I tried things on my own, a variety of things. And what I finally found was that without accountability, it just wasn't going to happen. And really, it just wasn't going to, it didn't work for me to try to make my wife be the one that held me accountable. That didn't really work for our relationship. So that's how I found this group and thought that this might be something that would work for me. And what were you drinking how much and when? I would drink, I would drink at night. I would drink when I came home after work and I would drink, you know, several glasses of wine, you know, it could be two, three, four, and it was pretty much every day. I would come home and drink wine. And what were the results of that consistent drinking? How was it impacting you? You know, it didn't feel good in the morning when I woke up, maybe sluggish in the morning and not, I think, not as clear as I needed to be. I feel like it made work harder than, or I know now, it made work harder than it needed to be. And honestly, it took away from the enjoyment of work because that struggle from coming out of that alcohol haze. And it just made you feel, and I felt guilty all the time. I was not proud that I was drinking. I didn't want to drink. I just didn't know how to stop. And so you joined our 90-day quit drinking program, Project 90. And what do you think inspired you to stay quit this time? Well, it was a combination of the things. The weekly calls with Kevin, the counseling calls helped a great deal, helped me not only with the alcohol issue, but with other issues that really played into the alcohol issue and helped me in dealing with tough relationship issues at work and other places. And then I think the other big piece was the weekly calls with the group. You really established a bond with a lot of people. They were very interesting, very smart people from all over the world. And I think the first time somebody was very kind of raw and honest just sort of blew me away in a situation where you're able to be honest and frank and tell people things you might not tell to anyone else. And so you feel a real bond and you feel like you need to get on those calls and be able to say that you stuck with it for another week as much for yourself as it was for them. Beautiful. And so now that you've accomplished the 90 days alcohol-free, how do you feel? What are some of the benefits that you weren't experiencing when you were drinking? Well, I'm in a period of work where I've got an awful lot of work and I've actually been enjoying it. It's helped me to juggle a lot of different things with a clearer mind and do a better job, I think. More energy. I always went to the gym a lot, but I feel like I just generally have more energy and more focused in general, both at work and on a personal level. And I feel like I have more time to figure out more things to do. So my wife and I, you know, we started to go on hikes on weekends, something we never did before, but you sort of find this time that was wasted because you were either drinking or not feeling good or something alcohol-related and it's interesting that now you've got all this extra time and that gives you time to do new things. You mentioned before that you had someone at work write you a complimentary note, so can you just share a little bit about what colleagues have noticed about you in your work performance? I've gotten compliments in terms of being able to handle the issues that have come in. They recognize how much pressure I'm on because of this increased workload, but I've been very complimentary that I've been able to stay on top of it, get back with them when I need to get back and get back with them with an answer and a clear answer, which is obviously in my profession, something you need to do. And I got to compliment from a boss that doesn't really hand them out very often, so that felt very good as well. That's great. And anyone else outside of work who's noticed anything about you and your way of being since you've been alcohol-free? Yeah, the other was funny. It was on day 90, as a matter of fact, and I had to go to a reception which was full of cash bars and wine on the table, none of which, of course, I had. But I ran into a friend of my wife's that I've known many, many years and talked to her for a while. And then my wife saw her a couple of days later and she was telling her how good I looked and how kind of that I had a good energy and that I seemed really calm and just a lot of compliments that kind of came out of nowhere because she doesn't really have any idea what I've been doing here. But obviously, she noticed a big difference. Yeah, wonderful. Anything that you noticed about your sleep or anything like that? I think it's getting better. It's still a little bit of a challenge for me, but I also think I've got an issue with probably with sleep apnea, so I've got a doctor's appointment early next year to figure that part of it out. But I think overall it's better than it was when I started. I had gotten in a pretty bad place with sleep. How did you feel just before you enrolled? Were you scared, nervous that you'd be able to do it? Were you worried about whether this way was going to work for you? What were some of your fears that you felt just before you enrolled? Well, I think you always have a fear about whether it's going to work because nothing else had worked. But I also think I had just gotten to the point where I really wanted this change and I had looked at so many different things and I had never really committed to something like this and for whatever reason in doing a lot of research and looking at a lot of what's out there, I thought this will work for me. And I think I just was at the right place that I was ready to commit to that. And finally, what would you say to someone who might be watching this now who's considering taking this plunge, I guess, of quitting alcohol for at least 90 days and doing so within the Project 90 program. So what words of encouragement might you offer to them? Obviously, I think it's a great program. It worked for me after many years of trying to stop in different ways. And I think you're going to find there's so much that grows out of stopping drinking that so many more positive things than just the fact that you're not drinking, but it opens up so many doors and makes you feel so much better that you're not going to regret it. And with the support of the people in this organization, I think that you're likely if you're committed, you're going to do it and you're going to be happy you did it. Well, Phillip Smith, 59 from Greensboro, North Carolina. Congratulations again. And thank you so much for playing full out. Tell us how many days you are again. 105 days alcohol free. Wow, amazing. Congratulations. And how many days are you going to go? Well, hopefully forever. But for now, I committed to another 90 days. So for sure, another 90 days. Yeah. Well, congratulations, Phillip. And thank you so much for sharing your story. OK, thanks, James. 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 JamesSwanick.com slash guide, I will send you my quit alcohol guide, which has helped six figure entrepreneurs and top professionals reduce or quit drinking. You can also text the word quit guide to the number four four two two two 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 four four two two two. 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