One particular evening sticks out in my mind. We headed out to West End, sober, and went to Lock and Load. We had set a series of challenges for each other, aimed at having fun and pushing ourselves into difficult and uncomfortable situations. I think mine were: earn $2 of a stranger, get some toilet paper out of the girls bathroom, and learn the norwegian word for happiness. It was the best night I’ve had out. We didn’t have anything to drink, we drove home, and I woke up without a hangover. It was awesome.

So I decided, months after that night, to do my own Hello Sunday Morning. I decided to take 3 months off. It started a couple of days before I ran the  Gold Coast half marathon, and finished on my Birthday. I have been able to drink for just over a month now.

The hardest part about the whole experience for me was not being able to have the experience of sharing alcohol. I don’t mean that in a, pass me the bottle, I’ll have a swig kinda way. I mean that I couldn’t do wine tasting with my Dad when we visited wineries, when he was over from New Zealand. I couldn’t share a bottle of wine with my new girlfriend. I had to find other ways to connect. Sometimes the other person would embrace the effort I would make, and other times it would be rejected.

I also learnt that a lot of people can’t see beyond their own world. They don’t realise that there is a whole universe of possibilities, and it doesn’t have to be the way it is now. In fact, it can’t ever stay the way it is. Everything changes, and Hello Sunday Morning is about taking control of the change, and directing it in a way that is most beneficial to an individual.

I learnt that I can go out and dance until 4 in the morning, without a drop of alcohol, and still have a great time. I learnt that I can approach people and start a conversation without being backed up with a belly full of booze. I learnt to respect myself, and have my own standards. I learnt to say no to people when they were putting a whole lot of pressure on me. I learnt that I am in control, and I can make my own decisions, and it doesn’t matter what other people think.

Coming out of my Hello Sunday Morning sabbatical was an experience in itself. I think I had about 4 whiskeys to celebrate my birthday. I got to the point where It would have been messy if I had anymore, and I stopped myself. The weirdest thing was waking up the next morning. As strange as it sounds, I could feel the alcohol moving around my body. I could feel my kidneys, and my liver working to get the poison out of my system. It made me realise what alcohol actually does to my body. The whole experience gets you more in tune with your body, and you learn to listen to the signals from it more and more.

The challenge for me now is to integrate the learnings I had from my Hello Sunday Morning experience into my life with alcohol again. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve gotten drunk a couple of times since I have finished. Afterwards I realised the cost of that, in so many different ways. For me, my Hello Sunday Morning experience has given me the experiences and the skills to lead a life in which alcohol plays a role that I have control of. A life where alcohol is something I might choose to involve when I’m having fun. Not something I need when I choose to have fun.

I’d like to thank you Chris for being awesome. We have shared some amazing times together so far and I look forward to many more. You are an inspiration to me, and many many people in the wider community. Love you bro.