TWO YEARS…
…is 730 days…
…which is 17,520 hours…
…or 1,051,200 minutes…
…or, to be really detailed, 63,072,000 seconds…
…of freedom from alcohol.
On the 28th August 2016, I said goodbye to my entire family, miraculously all congregated to say farewell. As I walked through security, my legs trembled, part in fear, part in exhaustion. My heavily fatigued eyes were flooded with tears.
I toasted my departure with a crisp glass of champagne at Fortnum & Mason in Heathrow Terminal 5. By the time I made it to the plane I was so exhausted that I fell asleep with a glass of Shiraz in my hand. The crew must have prized the nearly full glass out of my hand, predicting a messy incident.
Cheers to 20+ years of drinking, you’ve been swell!
This was not just a departure from London, it was also a departure from my old life and an arrival to the start of a new one. It was also my last alcoholic beverage. There are no regrets. There have been moments of looking back, when I sneak a peak to how my life was back then, shaded, clouded, hazed. I suffered from poor judgment in some contexts and over-judgment in others.
How can we expect to have a clear view of the challenges in the world around us when its often so out of focus? For me anyway, it just wasn’t working any more, so I decided to be bold, and make some major changes.
India was where it all began, and where I realised so much about myself there could be no turning back. More posts on that, and also about how I found recovery: For now, from a man beaming with joy, much love to all.
With SO MUCH gratitude,
Nathan
G. B
29/08/2018 at 6:35 PM
Knowing you with an embracing heart then and seeing you through it all to the joyous way you live now, has been a true and profound pleasure Nath. You have taken what you didn’t like about your life and your direction and turned it into positive fuel for a truly PURPOSEFUL life. Those of us that love and respect you toast you; (avocado toast that is! 😉 for your bravery in sharing with us. And for the fearlessness you didn’t think you had in you. Brilliant!
Love. Light. Laughter.
O