This weeks guest who is Alex Clapp – Alcohol took Alex to a very dark place but now he’s 2 years sober and running alcohol free events!

In this episode:-

Alex started drinking heavily as a teenager within a culture that normalized binge drinking.
Like many of us he developed a career in a "work hard, play hard" culture, where drinking was integral to fitting in
Alex was drinking heavily anyway but when he was faced with a serious health challenge it ramped up further
He experienced significant eye health issues leading to partial blindness
Battling with a combination of problematic drinking and depression Alex was beginning to feel suicidal
Thankfully his 16 year old son turned this mindset around when he expressed a heartfelt need for his father
Alex went to rehab 3 times – an interesting process…
First time he treated it as a “break” to prove to himself that he wasn’t an alcohol – a bit like many of us do with Dry January
Second time he did some deeper work but then made the mistake of thinking that he had “fixed” his inner problem and would be able to drink normally!
Third time it stuck when he finally accepted that he had crossed the line into dependence and would never be able to moderate!
Alex spoke of the importance of vulnerability, which is not so easy for men who have often been raised to hide their emotions and fix everything!
We agreed on the importance of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable which enables us to create alternative coping mechanisms.
We also spoke of the importance of having a project in sobriety and Alex has created Claritee, an organization promoting alcohol-free events for corporate and public settings.
Alex believes that his events are challenging social norms and will provide people with alternative choices for fun and connection
You can see some beautiful photo of sober people having fun on Alex website which is https://www.clariteegroup.co.uk/ - I’ll put a link in the shownotes
Alex advocates giving back to the community through volunteering and helping charities
We agreed that donating to a charity actually lights up the same pathways in our brain that alcohol did!
So on that basis here is a plug for our Annual Fundraiser which helps underprivileged children here in South Africa
Just donate whatever you an afford and in addition to getting a buzz you’ll get online and community support for 30 days of your choosing – any 30 day window that suits you between now and the end of Feb
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