The Decision
I think we can all admit that where we are "Right Now" is simply the culmination of all the Decisions we have made in our lifetime -- and as Geddy Lee from "Rush" reminds us in the song Freewill: "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice"
As a daily drunk for more than 30 years, I've made the decision to stop drinking lots of times over my lifetime -- lasting days, weeks, sometimes a month or two. Why was this last round the one that worked? Because Leon's SoberClear program was finally able to put the last pieces of the puzzle together in my mind -- that I needed -- to make This Decision the final one.
It's not magic, and frankly most of the ideas and realities presented in the program itself is sprinkled across Leon's channel in his YouTube videos. But in this program, he collects them together and presents them in an organized manner to help you begin rethinking how and why you became a drunk in the first place – and leads you ultimately, to the question of whether or not continuing being a drunk is REALLY the path you want to choose going forward.
The SoberClear, program is unique in that brings a NEW Paradigm to the question: "Is this how I want to live my life?”
I'm in my late 50's, and really the only options I ever really knew society to offer as a solution to my problem was "Willpower" (taking on a superhuman state of total self-control to combat your inner urges, desires and cravings) and "Alcoholics Anonymous" (admitting to that you have No Control, that you are essentially a victim of a disease that you will have to deal with for the rest of your life). For me -- and I know each of these paths well – these two options fell short...
SoberClear is different. Leon knows and understands that Drinking is a Choice. What his programs does is supply the information (and the structure to think about that information) so that You, as an Individual Person in this world, is able to make the right decision for yourself. Truly understanding the role alcohol plays in all our lives is key.
So why was this decision different from all the other times I decided to quit drinking?
Because…
A) This Decision did not require a personal battle with Willpower. In fact, quitting drinking turned out to be one the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. Yes, for a short time, there was a component of mental and physical withdrawal and the un-learning of bad habits, but once I was able to make a decision at this level of understanding, I became fully committed to face and conquer those trivialities.
B) This Decision was not based on the premise that I was a Powerless Victim of circumstance ("I'm an Alcoholic, and I will Always be an Alcoholic"). Leon understands that your life-choices are all ultimately up to you, and provides a simple toolset I used to make a solid Decision for my life. The SoberClear program is designed to help you come to the realization that you actually do control the path your life takes, and empowers you to -- not simply take back that control -- but to remake your life into what you ultimately want it to be. This program is not constructed around keeping track of how many days it's been since you had your last drink -- WHO CARES! What Leon cares about this: What are you accomplishing Now in life -- now that alcohol is no longer dragging you down and holding you back.
C) I was invested in This Decision, literally. It ain’t free. Putting my hard-earned money on the line was definitely a motivator. And that is how I used it -- I wasn’t about to throw that money away. Like I said before, this program isn’t magic, and you will get as much out of it as you are willing to put in. It’s surprisingly simple, elegantly logical, and ultimately obvious. When the obvious starts dawning on you, that’s when things begin to click.
I’m sure the thing that finally clicks in place, and makes all the difference in the world, will be different for different people – and may not necessarily be anything that is specifically talked about in the program. This isn’t a training. It’s more a self-(and society-)realization process that naturally comes about when you begin learning what alcohol really is, and isn’t. For me, my past failures, I think, were deeply rooted in fear -- the Fear of Missing Out. I just wanted to be a “normal” drinker: Have a beer with friends, party on occasion, without the alcohol insidiously creeping back in and taking me over. I was pissed off that I didn’t seem to have that capability. And every time I quit drinking, that longing and resentment was always lingering in the back of my mind… Leon’s SoberClear program changed that for me. What I learned, the things this program made me think through, helped me to put the missing pieces together in my mind and conveyed me to MY Final Realization: I don’t NEED to WANT to be a “Normal Drinker”
And now, after 30+ years, I’m Free.
December 4, 2023
Unprompted review