Why I Stopped Drinking
Waste Management Open - Scottsdale, Arizona
April 25th, 2019 was the last time I had an alcoholic drink.
Since that period of time I’ve traveled out of the country twice (spending nearly three weeks abroad), spent a week of vacation in Hawaii, have been the officiator at one of my best friend's wedding (that impressively adorned an extensive open bar), and I’ve gone to a handful of music concerts where I’ve danced the night away.
Why do I mention all of these?
Because these are the type of celebratory events where I’ve in the past been known to get more than loose, and indulge in a few (or abundance) of adult beverages.
Firstly, let me be clear in that I have no personal vendetta against alcohol or anyone who partakes in its consumption.
Some of the most memorable times in my life experience to this point have been:
- Going to a friends Valentine’s Day wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Attending and seeing some of my all-time favorite artists like Outkast, Pharrell, and Broken Bells at one of the largest three-day music festivals (Coachella) in the world near San Diego, California
- Frequently drinking mimosas then spending time at the pool most Sunday summers while living in both Scottsdale, Arizona and Dallas, Texas
- Being promoted to senior level sales positions in both the NFL & MLB
- Spending nearly all-day sipping Aperol Spritz while lounging on a restaurant patio in Florence, Italy
- Proposing to my beautiful partner and enjoying a bottle of champagne afterwards in Stockholm, Sweden
- And sipping a bottle of Croatian wine in solitude, while relaxing along the beautiful coast of the country, taking in the magnificently calming and deep blue water of the Adriatic Sea.
I’ve had some amazing celebratory experiences that I am forever appreciative and grateful for. One’s that I genuinely believe alcohol has added a deeper sense of positive vibes and enhancement to a certain degree.
So why did I give it up?
It actually came to me in the middle of a coaching session shortly before that aforementioned date in April.
Armando, a good friend who was now also a client of mine at that present time too, had just reached the three month period of our one-on-one health coaching work together.
To say I was inspired by how he was showing up and what he had created for himself in the twelve weeks up until that point, would be a vast understatement.
However I’d be remiss if I didn’t go back a bit and mention what previously led to that point, and the phone conversation between us.
Within it, he authentically expressed to me some of the struggles he was presently experiencing in his personal health.
Armando expressed to me that he had gained over 40 pounds since I last saw him and his health had taken a turn for the worse.
He was only 36 years young, but was now prescribed and on both high blood pressure, as well as cholesterol medications.
He mentioned he practically had no energy throughout most of his days (leading him, a previous collegiate athlete, to the point of doing no physical exercise in nearly two years), was experiencing noticeable declines in his mental performance (creating an over reliance on coffee to form some semblance of daily functioning within his work), and that he was genuinely worried about the medications he was taking and the direction his health was ultimately headed.
Hearing where he was at genuinely surprised me a bit, as I remembered being inspired to take up running (something I previously had no interest in whatsoever), after watching him in-person a few years prior run and finish a full 26.2-mile marathon.
Scanning back a bit, it had been nearly three years since we had both seen each other in person.
It was the summer of 2016 and I had just touched down in Miami to attend a friend’s bachelor party.
Armando had been living in the city for nearly six years, relocating from Arizona for a Director position with a collegiate sports organization whose home office was located there.
At this particular time I had actually just spent the previous three months solo traveling throughout most of western Europe.
Cutting my trip short, I flew directly from Madrid, Spain to Miami, Florida, in order to meet up with a few guys (of course including the groom to be), for a weekend of nightlife and fun that Miami easily offers in spades.
I chose to stay with Armando for that particular weekend, as I was completely exhausted from all of the prior movement from one country to the next, which had become the previous norm for me while traveling abroad.
While many of the other men stayed at a hotel together, I intentionally wanted to create a bit of space as I knew my body wasn’t in the position to fully participate to the same degree as the others.
I had already been to his place previously, so I knew it offered a comfortable respite with just a short 10-minute bike ride to the beach.
Coincidentally, I had actually just seen him a month prior too, as he reached out to me while I was in Barcelona and asked if he could fly out and experience some of the European travels with me.
I obliged and we both met in Vienna, Austria, where we soon after boarded an 11-hour train ride to Venice, Italy.
After spending the weekend there, we then traveled further south to Rome.
We both stayed with a friend of mine who just two years prior, had relocated out of the US and was now living in Rome.
Armando and I ended up spending just short of two weeks together abroad, and I didn’t think too much of anything outside of us just fully taking in the Italian food and nightlife experience together.
However now there was a completely different tone to our conversation, the polar opposite of how it felt when we were enjoying the beach life or spending time dancing at a nightclub in Milan, Italy.
Armando, a first-generation Puerto Rican, vividly remembered and explained to me how tough it was watching both of his grandparent’s experience health issues with both their cholesterol and high blood pressure, eventually leading to both of their passings when he was 8 and 16 years old.
I could hear a whole different side of him. He was being extremely vulnerable and I got a deep sense that he was either in or on the cusp of approaching a pretty dark place (as I could tell he was trying his best to hold it all together).
He knew of my own personal health transformation (sustainably losing over 50 pounds and completely creating a totally new understanding in the importance of the mind to body connection).
He also knew that I transitioned into Personal Coaching, because of the deep passion I had in desiring to truly be a calm, committed, and focused guide for those who had reached a point in their lives where they were tired of going at it alone, and fully open to receiving support.
I asked him if he desired my help.
He said absolutely.
“How committed are you to this?” I asked.
He said very.
“Are you 100% sure?” I asked him one final time.
“Yes man, I am genuinely tired of living my life this way and need some sense of help and direction.” He confidently responded.
I was very intentional with my questions and with listening to his responses, as health is something I didn’t personally dick around with.
Both of my parents had passed away (my father just a month after my 12th birthday, and my mother nearly 1.5 years prior to our conversation, just a few months shy of my 32nd birthday).
While I’ve always been a big kid at heart, one who always enjoyed playing and oftentimes laughing at things or topics that most others would be uptight or serious towards, the conversation of health was not one of those for me.
I not only had the experience of watching and being with both of my parents at the end of their physical life’s, but I also personally had a near death experience when I was but 11 years old myself.
The short version of a long story is that I needed to be rushed to the emergency room one evening after little league baseball tryouts.
I was experiencing severe stomach discomfort, and for years leading up to that point, I used to frequently have excruciating migraine headaches (where the root cause was ultimately unexplainable by many doctors then).
While in the emergency room I had some test done that showed I was adorning a tumor the size of a grapefruit in the left lower region of my abdomen.
Surgery for its removal was needed.
However during surgery the anesthesiologist had difficulties regulating my blood pressure after the tumor was removed, leading to the removal of my left adrenal gland in the process too.
Fortunately I’m in a beautiful position today, but for many years I had off and on again issues with my own weight, energy, and ability to properly manage stress.
Now, speaking directly with Armando, I mentioned that if he showed up fully, this would be the most transformative period of his entire life as it came to not only his personal health on a physical and mental level, but also on a body awareness and understanding how to mindfully listen to it level too.
He said he was all in and while I admittedly could hear a touch of anxiety in his voice, deep down I felt and knew that he was more about actions than just merely speech at this point.
After filling out an extensive 15-page health history intake form and receiving his full payment for three-months of coaching sessions, I sent him a completely personalized nutritional and natural supplement plan.
I also informed him that he would begin incorporating a daily meditation practice to create a quieter mind and reduce stress throughout his whole entire body.
I explained to him how the body operates on a holistic or integrated level.
That it’s not all about physical exercise and nutrition when it came to health, but also sleep quality, one’s mindset, the quality of one’s friendships and social circles, their ability to give and receive love (as well as spend time doing activities in which they love), and also the importance of the emotional awareness piece too.
His engagement was high, as he asked many different questions, which I was more than happy to answer to the best of my ability.
“Alright, here’s the best part. Are you ready for it?” I said with a slight smile on my face.
Armando took a brief sigh, clearly already a bit subtly overwhelmed but excited by new processes, sense of direction, and support he was gaining in our conversation.
“There will be no alcohol for 90 days.” I said matter-of-factly.
“Dude!? Come on man, are you serious?” He responded back abruptly.
“Yep, and there’s zero wiggle room on this one either. And by zero I do mean zero.”
I could clearly see the frustration on his face, as he then explained to me that he was to be in two weddings and also attend a bachelor party out of the country within the three-month period.
I listened, but reiterated the commitment that he made not only verbally but also with his payment. I told him that it was very necessary and that in the grand scheme of things it was only 90 days of an entire lifetime.
“Come on man, you got this, and I’m here to completely support you through it. I told him that I've worked with people who travel and entertain clients for work (where alcohol consumption is literally a part of their job description) that were able to go 90-days without it. I believe in you brother, you got this.” I compassionately said back to him.
He agreed and committed to not indulge in any during the time.
Here’s a picture of Armando at the beginning of our work together, the middle at four-months in, and the final at the six month mark:
Though our original plan was to work with each other for three months, he had experienced so many shifts in his life that he openly asked if he could continue seeing me for an additional three.
In that period of time he completely normalized his blood pressure (eradicating his previous usage and a nearly 15 year long battle with higher numbers ranging all the way back to his high school years).
He lost a vast total of nearly 45 pounds (42 to be exact - with the majority coming within the first three months).
He no longer needed his cholesterol meds, as his numbers naturally went back within the normal range.
And last but not least, he experienced these shifts without barely any exercise.
There was no weight lifting, high intensity type of workouts, or grueling long runs like he had become accustomed to back in the day while training for his first marathon.
He did all this while working out an average of 30-minutes for two-three days a week (with not one single workout the whole first month of the program).
Many people began to take notice of the shifts he had created in his life too.
His partner was inspired by him. As she began eating healthier and incorporating some of the practices (which had now become habits) that he was now effortlessly embodying on a daily basis.
Per his words, his mind was the sharpest it had ever been in his entire life, and this led to vast increases in his energy and performance at work.
His commitment to himself and personal health started a ripple effect within his organization too.
Many colleagues at his job were inspired by him.
For those who continued to ask him questions, he openly offered exactly what he had been doing, and even began coaching a small group of others who desired to create some of the same habits and lifestyle changes for themselves.
One of the senior executives (whom he sat next to), came back from a nearly month-long office hiatus to barely even recognize the person who sat next to them before.
They began inviting him to different out of office events centered around physical and mental fitness (something that a few months prior was not only on his radar, but an incapability at the time).
Armando also inspired his family.
His brother, mother, and father (everyone took notice).
However most importantly, at least in the particular context of what I’m sharing here; Armando inspired me.
While admittedly I wouldn't say I had a major issue with alcohol, I did notice that my consumption had grown from merely a glass of wine occasionally, to nearly 2-3 glasses most if not every evening.
This caused me to take a deeper look at myself in the mirror.
Here I was watching my client tap deeper into his own edge and I desired to create some of the same for myself.
That personal edge started with committing to give up alcohol for 30 days.
I figured what the heck, I had gone for a period of abstaining for six months a few years prior, so why not create another 30 days and see where that could lead?
After I reached 30, I then committed to 90 days.
Once I reached that three month period, I opted to go for six months.
And once I reached six months, I really didn’t miss it all that much so I committed to going for an entire 365-day calendar year.
Now, as of writing this, I’m just a few days shy of an exact 17 months of being alcohol free.
I feel fortunate and appreciative for creating this presently new way of living for myself.
Will I always stick to this and never drink an alcoholic beverage again?
Who knows.
But what I do know is that I feel the most mentally sharp, vibrant, and focused I’ve ever felt in my entire life.
I sleep better, feel that I’m able to show up even more powerfully for my clients, and I’m able to see different aspects of my life and relationships even more clearly (as there’s no crutch or numbing agent at all within this capacity, which I can authentically say hasn’t always been the case).
I’d like to say thank you to Armando.
Thank you for choosing to authentically show up for yourself.
Thank you for trusting me and choosing to commit to an unknown process that you had never experienced before in your entire life.
Thank you for honoring yourself and the desires of your heart at the time, when it came to completely and naturally transforming your health from the inside out.
And again, most importantly, thank you for inspiring me to create a new relationship to my own edge, which I’m forever grateful for, and am clearly able to see the impact that it’s had and continues to have in not only my personal, but professional life too.
If you’ve read this far and are in a place where you feel a burning desire inside of yourself to create a lifestyle change within your own personal health, then I have a potential opportunity that may align for you.
For the past five years, the type of health coaching I described above, has been extremely beneficial for countless clients.
However, it’s always only been offered in the one-on-one capacity.
With the present cost to work with me in this private arena over a six month capacity being over $8,000, there have been some people who while possessing a strong desire to do so, simply weren’t in the financial position to take the next step at this particular level.
Since I didn’t offer any alternative to this, there wasn’t an in between area to help others outside of this scope.
However, the idea came to me to potentially offer the exact same level of health coaching, but in a small and intentional group capacity.
The four (4) person group would be over a four-month period, and would offer each individual person the same level of personalization and coaching that Armando and many others have received, but in a supportive and non-judgmental group setting.
These individuals would not only have me in their corner, but they’ll also have the support of others going through the exact same life changing process as them too, from start to finish.
Since this would be the very first time I’d be doing this in a group capacity, the cost would be a small fraction of the one-on-one rate.
If this is of interest to you, send me an e-mail at brandon@brandonbennett.com with the following in the first line:
"I would like to learn more.”
I’ll then reply back to you with the exact process of what to expect from start to finish, as well as go over the structure, pricing, and answer any additional questions you may have.
However if you’re already in a genuinely great place with your physical, mental, and emotional health while reading this, then I send much continued love to you and say keep leaning into your greatness. As there’s no better day, time, or moment to keep choosing to do so, then outside of the present.
With Love, 🙏🏿❤️
Brandon