Where’s lime and soda been all my life??  It’s my new best friend.

Almost three months in, a trip to Thailand, countless sober corporate functions, and numerous airports… and I’am having a ball.  I’ve always thought that my ‘love’ for beer would hinder my attempt at Hello Sunday Morning, however I really love being off the booze.

I actually thought this was going to be harder than it actually is.  Iam enjoying every bit of it!  My weekends seem to go for a longer period of time, I feel healthier, work’s going really well… life’s good!

One of the nicest things about Hello Sunday Morning is the community factor.  A couple of weeks ago, Rainesy and I were in Canberra, attempting to link up with General Gillespie and a bunch of Dept of Health staff (but that’s another story) along with Canberra HSM’er Katherine Humphreys.  It’s great that we’re forming a community of people – a group who are on the same path, all sharing a similar story and all over the country.  It’s great that today Katherine (who’s in Brisbane) has a group of people she can connect with and hang out with… I love the fact that we’re building a community that spans across boarders that anyone can be part of.

We’ve got some big things in the pipeline, which in turn is going to make it a crazy few months!  Buckle up and hold on!

So I did my first post a couple of days ago and heard from a great mate who’s now living abroad, Canada to be precise. He mentioned in an email, that he couldn’t believe the amout of excessive drug and alcohol abuse by those on the slopes, including plenty of Aussies.

He got me thinking, I wonder what the host country thinks of the influx of alco’s coming onto their shores, and then as well, I wonder what the ripple effect is throughout the local community? Similarly what must it be doing for Australias reputation abroad??

As this mate said, he doesn’t get it, everyday he’s hungover is a day he’s not snowboarding, so he just lays off the booze.

A random thought for a Tuesday… Maybe there’s a public awareness campaign there for young Aussies traveling abroad.

Adam

Well for the past 14 months I’ve sat on the sideline ‘cheering the troops on with Hello Sunday Morning.  I’ve watched it go from an idea dropped onto the table over a beer with Chris Raine one afternoon in Caloundra, to what it is now, a movement of young people on the path of creating change around the binge drinking issue here in Australia and globally.

For those who don’t know me, I am Adam, I run FRESH, the little ad agency where Hello Sunday Morning was hatched.  What started as a ‘research project’ has turned into something much greater, something that’s on the radar of most Politicians, government advisors, key industry bodies and swiftly echoing throughout Health Departments nationally.

In 2009, Chris and the team worked tirelessly making the movement bigger, better and stronger, and can I say how proud I am of him and the guys who supported him (you know who you are), Hello Sunday Morning now is something bigger than us, something that’s going to change the how young people face up to alcohol globally.

And in 2010 the story is going to continue.  Iam sitting here working on the business plan for Hello Sunday Morning, and getting shivers down my spine thinking about where we’re going and what we need to do.  It’s going to be an insane adventure.

2010 for Hello Sunday Morning is about creating waves across Australia.  It’s about putting the movement on as many young people’s minds as possible.  It’s about empowering those who want to really change their attitude towards alcohol for the better, by providing them with tools and opportunities, helping them to not only grow personally, but to realise that alcohol isn’t the prerequisite for having a good time.

But to do this we need your help.  Please help re-tweet, re-post and comment on blog articles when you see them from the troops going through Hello Sunday Morning.  Please look out for opportunities to get the media on our side.  And please keep spreading the word about what Hello Sunday Morning is all about.  In the words of Chris, every waterfall starts with a trickle, please help us make this trickle into a stream.

So from February 1 my party’s just starting.  Iam committed to six months without grog and actually really looking forward to it. I am not doing it because I have a problem with alcohol or that I over consume, it’s because for the past few years I haven’t even focused on my health and it’s about time I do so!

My Hello Sunday Morning is about improving my fitness.

Thanks for sharing in the journey… keep tabs on what Iam up to through Facebook or Twitter or hit me up on email…

Adam