Having spent a significant stretches of time with two friends that smoke I really noticed the urge within myself to also roll up a dart and have a puff. This urge makes me appreciate just how much power our environment has on us. I don’t have anything against smokers or smoking because I also like to have the occasional cigarette in the same way that I sometimes like to share a glass of wine. My point is that if all my friends smoked, there is a significantly greater chance that I would be smoking a lot more. I have come to recognise that within myself, this is something I need to be really aware of. I have come to realise that I need to make quality broader choices on my environment, just as I need to make quality smaller choices within them. When I was halfway through my HSM, I desperately wanted to believe that ‘will power’ was enough to change a person’s perception of needing alcohol and that you could continue to live your life the way it was, without making any major changes to who you kept around you. However, more and more, I am coming to realise that the choices we make of who we have around us have a deep impact on who we are and what we do. I think one of the biggest fears that people have in doing a HSM is that they will lose their friends. This is a fear that is definitely founded on truth. However, if the relationship you have with someone is lost (not strengthened) by taking a break from drinking - it’s probably a relationship that was meant to dissolve some time ago. Doing my 12 month HSM, I found that the relationships I kept right from the beginning are even more authentic and the relationships that faded away, just made room for better ones in my life. I have ‘John-West’d’ the most incredibly inspiring, life-giving friends around me over the past 12 months. They are people that both challenge and support my choices in a way that pushes me to make even better ones. Many of them have come to me through doing my Hello Sunday Morning probably because they are the type of people that would do something crazy like that. However, I have also come to realise that friendships are like everything else and nothing lasts forever. One day, I may have to let go of some of them and one day some of them may have to let go of me, change is a way of life. I think doing a HSM made me realise just how important it is to be able to do this,` at every stage of life.