August 3, 2025 • 9 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Stop Drinking Podcast, where we help
you make stopping drinking asimple, logical and easy
decision.
We help you with tips, toolsand strategies to start living
your best life when alcohol-free.
If you want to learn more aboutstop drinking coaching, then
head over to wwwsoberclearcom.
(00:21):
Will I ever drink alcohol againIf we've not met?
My name is Leon Sylvester.
I haven't drank now for sevenyears.
It took me 10 years to get tothis point where I feel no
desire to drink, but today I'mgoing to unpack this question
Will I ever drink alcohol again?
The purpose of this video is toreally show you my mindset,
because the goal of my channelis to help you make this change
(00:43):
permanent.
So you can probably guess theanswer to my question, but I'm
not just going to give it to you.
You're going to have to waitbecause I need to unpack it.
You need to see the layers towhy I'm going to answer this
question, the way that I answerit, and the layers are going to
give you ammunition.
I want to show you my mindsetand my thought process to the
answer of this question becauseit is going to make such a big
difference in your life.
I'm not saying that from aplace of superiority.
(01:05):
I'm just sharing what's workedfor me, what's worked for the
clients that have helped overthe years.
I've worked with 450 clientsnow I've got a stop drinking
coaching business.
I've been featured in Men'sHealth, the BBC.
In fact, an academicpsychologist recently wrote a
report which is now in GoogleScholar.
So when I give you my answers,it's not coming from a place of
superiority, it's purely comingfrom a place of experience.
(01:26):
To start the video off, I needto start with the phrase control
.
So I work with an awful lot ofpeople who, when they start
working with me, they're notfully ready to stop drinking,
and I always explain to themthat's normal.
If you were fully ready, youwouldn't be talking to me in the
first place.
You'd have already fixed theproblem.
So I'm sure a lot of people arehoping that I make this video
and I say yes, one day I plan todo it again in a lower amount.
(01:49):
I'm not going to say that, but Ilike to throw around the word
control.
Now I've seen other people thathave similar businesses and
help the similar kind of peopleI help, and when they've used
the word control, they'veencouraged people to drink
alcohol.
In fact, I have seen stopdrinking coaches.
I have seen people that runstop drinking companies still
drink alcohol.
(02:09):
To me that's ludicrous, but I'mnot here to judge whatever.
Maybe it works for them, maybeit's working for their customers
, their clients I don't know.
If you want my honest opinion,it's total madness, because when
I use the word control, I'm notsaying that I drink, but I am
saying I am in true control ofmy drinking.
True control is being able tolook at alcohol and make a
logical choice whether or notyou want to drink it.
(02:32):
Every single time I am met withthat choice, I always choose to
not drink.
To me, that is control beingable to take it or leave it
whenever you want, but thennever taking it because you have
no desire to take it.
That's control.
It's the same way I'm incontrol of jumping off a cliff.
It's the same way I'm incontrol of jumping in front of a
car that's moving towards me.
I have true control over that.
(02:53):
It doesn't mean I go and do it,though, because it would be
ridiculous, the same way thatputting poison ethanol, this
highly addictive drug, into mybody.
It would be like rolling a dice, and if it lands on a six, I
die right.
Why would I ever do that?
It's playing with fire.
I'm going to sound fanatical inthis video, but these are my
real thoughts.
This is how I actually feelabout this problem.
(03:15):
So whenever you hear me mentionthe word control in any of my
content, just know, when I saycontrol, I don't mean drink.
True control is being able totake it or leave it whenever you
want, but always choosing toleave it.
The reason why I'm in thisplace where I can do that is
because I've changed my paradigm.
I no longer see alcohol assomething that adds value in my
life.
I see it as this addictive drug, this poison, this thing that's
(03:38):
just going to ruin my life.
I have no positive associationwith alcohol anymore, so there
is no chance I'm ever going todrink it again.
I kind of gave away the answerto the question, but let me
unpack it further Now.
I am saying this from aposition of having gone through
this process of reframing theway I view alcohol, which
probably isn't where you're atright now.
Maybe you are there, maybeyou've already stopped drinking,
(03:58):
but if you're watching thischannel, maybe not.
The solution to your problem isto fix your worldview.
You need to fix the way thatyou view alcohol.
How Well, what you can do is dowhat I did, do what I teach my
clients to do, do what I do inmy program, but it's to use a
mental model called firstprinciples thinking.
All this is is getting a problem.
It's breaking it down into itscomponent parts.
(04:20):
It's studying the individualcomponent parts of the problem
and then putting them backtogether to create a new
paradigm.
So, instead of doing whateverybody else is doing, because
you know, if you think about it, if you want to stop drinking
alcohol and you go to a friend,you go to a doctor, you find
somebody else that you know thatstopped drinking alcohol.
What are you likely to be told?
Reduce your drinking.
Maybe you get told, come to anAA meeting.
(04:40):
Maybe you get told well, juststop.
I'm just tough, right.
It's not really very helpfuladvice, but that would be an
example of reasoning fromanalogy.
Reasoning from first principlesis really breaking it down and
studying the parts of theproblem, and you do this through
reading books, through watchingYouTube channels like mine.
I'm sure there's plenty ofother YouTube channels out there
podcasts, blogs on the internetbut the whole idea is to break
(05:03):
it down and look okay.
So let's really break downaddiction.
Let's break down this termalcoholic, let's break down
alcohol and the addictiveproperties of the drug and let's
try and study them all and thenput them back together so we
see it for what it is, so we canunlearn this conditioning and
we can get into a state of mindwhere we have control.
Now, if you want to help doingthat that's what I do with my
business, that's what mycoaching company does is we help
(05:25):
people reframe the way thatthey view alcohol, using first
principles thinking.
This has all beenscientifically validated, and if
you want to access a free videotraining that shows you how to
do it, you can just click thelink in the description put in
your name and email address.
A new video will start and thatwill show you how it works.
But going back to the originalquestion of the video, will I
ever drink again?
Well, the answer is is if Iwant to, I'll do whatever I want
, but I'm never going to drink apoison again.
(05:46):
Why would I do that?
So let's bring it back a bit,because again, you might not be
there right now.
I want to give you another quickexample, when I was a teenager.
I try not to talk about thisstuff too much because as I grew
up and as life continued,alcohol became the biggest
source of pain in my life.
But when I was like 17, 18, Ialso took drugs and I'm going to
make this short because noteverybody's going to relate with
(06:06):
this, but I used to take thislegal high with me and all of my
friends.
And I'm telling you after youtook this stuff, the days after
taking it, it makes a hangoverlook like a vacation.
There were times where we wouldstart taking the stuff on a
Friday night.
We'd stay awake all Friday, allSaturday, and then sleep on a
Sunday afternoon and I'm notexaggerating the Monday after.
For that entire week I couldn'teven speak.
(06:29):
I couldn't even leave my room.
It was like I couldn't getwords out.
Will I ever take that again?
Of course not.
You couldn't pay me.
If you gave me $100,000, I'mnot taking that stuff.
If somebody came into my housewith that substance, I would
never talk to them again, notfrom a place of judgment, but
from a place of why am I havingsomebody like this in my life?
I'm telling you that stuff wasnasty, like my elbows went blue,
my knees went blue because ofthe vasoconstriction.
(06:51):
But anyway, I don't want thischannel to become about drugs.
I'm just saying that when Ithink about that drug my mind is
like no chance would I evertouch that again.
And I use that example becauseI'm sure that there are a lot of
drugs out there that you wouldnever take, and we've always got
to remember that.
Alcohol is a drug, but it's notjust a drug.
In terms of addiction, it's oneof the most severely addictive
(07:11):
drugs on the planet.
It is up there with heroin,with crack it is no joke alcohol
and in terms of physical damageit's also one of the worst.
If we lived in an alternateuniverse where alcohol was only
just discovered today, it wouldbe immediately banned.
It would be the highest gradedrug.
However, it works.
In America, class A.
In England Nobody would evertouch the stuff.
So will I ever drink one of themost addictive, dangerous,
(07:33):
physically harming drugs on theplanet again?
Of course not.
But let me give you one finalexample.
I just want to drill this homeone more time.
If you're still thinking wow,but Leon, I'm not there yet.
You know, maybe one day I wantto have one or two drinks.
I'm going to give you a thoughtexperiment to get past this.
It's not going to be easy, butthe idea is I want to kind of
take you out of yourself so youcan look down at yourself almost
(07:54):
like your third person and youcan really just see the
situation for what it is.
Think of a loved one, right?
A child, a friend, a familymember, a spouse, just for a
second.
Let's change the drug.
Let's just say your brother,whatever family member.
They developed a severeaddiction to crack and it
destroyed their life.
Just imagine it.
Just everything in their lifecrumbled away.
And this family member.
(08:15):
They go to rehab, they getsober for 30 days and then they
get back home and I want you toimagine the feeling that you'd
have at this point.
I want you to imagine thatfamily member walks up to you
and says dad, brother, son,whoever you are.
So what I've decided to do afterthe rehab now I've cleaned my
life up and now I'm feeling goodis I'm going to reduce my
consumption.
I'm just going to smoke fromthat specific dealer when I have
(08:37):
a steak on a Friday night,because I just love the
combination of that dealer'scrack and the steak.
Can you imagine how that wouldfeel?
Can you imagine the punch inthe stomach that you'd get If
that happened to me.
I'd feel physically sick.
I'd want to cry.
I think no, please God, no,seriously.
Are there people out there thatdrink alcohol and have their
life together?
Yes, of course.
I'm not going to say that theydon't exist.
(08:58):
They're nothing to envy, butthey're out there.
But because those people existand because we live in a world
that's normalized drinkingalcohol, we can look at people
that drink and we can think, oh,maybe I could do it like them.
I am so sure that there arepeople out there that consume
other very addictive,destructive drugs and they don't
get addicted to them.
But just go back to thatexample of the family member
coming home from rehab havingdestroyed their life, having
(09:20):
caused so much pain because ofthe drug, coming back and
telling you that Because what'sthe difference if it's crack,
cocaine or a glass of red wineYou're still not closing the
door.
The most important thing thatyou can do when it comes to this
question of will I ever drinkalcohol again is fix your
paradigm.
Change the way that you viewalcohol and you will never look
back.
Thanks for checking out theStop Drinking Podcast by Sober
(09:41):
Clear If you want to learn moreabout how we work with people to
help them.
Welcome to the Stop Drinking Podcast, where we help
you make stopping drinking asimple, logical and easy
decision.
We help you with tips, toolsand strategies to start living
your best life when alcohol-free.
If you want to learn more aboutstop drinking coaching, then
head over to wwwsoberclearcom.
(00:21):
Will I ever drink alcohol againIf we've not met?
My name is Leon Sylvester.
I haven't drank now for sevenyears.
It took me 10 years to get tothis point where I feel no
desire to drink, but today I'mgoing to unpack this question
Will I ever drink alcohol again?
The purpose of this video is toreally show you my mindset,
because the goal of my channelis to help you make this change
(00:43):
permanent.
So you can probably guess theanswer to my question, but I'm
not just going to give it to you.
You're going to have to waitbecause I need to unpack it.
You need to see the layers towhy I'm going to answer this
question, the way that I answerit, and the layers are going to
give you ammunition.
I want to show you my mindsetand my thought process to the
answer of this question becauseit is going to make such a big
difference in your life.
I'm not saying that from aplace of superiority.
(01:05):
I'm just sharing what's workedfor me, what's worked for the
clients that have helped overthe years.
I've worked with 450 clientsnow I've got a stop drinking
coaching business.
I've been featured in Men'sHealth, the BBC.
In fact, an academicpsychologist recently wrote a
report which is now in GoogleScholar.
So when I give you my answers,it's not coming from a place of
superiority, it's purely comingfrom a place of experience.
(01:26):
To start the video off, I needto start with the phrase control
.
So I work with an awful lot ofpeople who, when they start
working with me, they're notfully ready to stop drinking,
and I always explain to themthat's normal.
If you were fully ready, youwouldn't be talking to me in the
first place.
You'd have already fixed theproblem.
So I'm sure a lot of people arehoping that I make this video
and I say yes, one day I plan todo it again in a lower amount.
(01:49):
I'm not going to say that, but Ilike to throw around the word
control.
Now I've seen other people thathave similar businesses and
help the similar kind of peopleI help, and when they've used
the word control, they'veencouraged people to drink
alcohol.
In fact, I have seen stopdrinking coaches.
I have seen people that runstop drinking companies still
drink alcohol.
(02:09):
To me that's ludicrous, but I'mnot here to judge whatever.
Maybe it works for them, maybeit's working for their customers
, their clients I don't know.
If you want my honest opinion,it's total madness, because when
I use the word control, I'm notsaying that I drink, but I am
saying I am in true control ofmy drinking.
True control is being able tolook at alcohol and make a
logical choice whether or notyou want to drink it.
(02:32):
Every single time I am met withthat choice, I always choose to
not drink.
To me, that is control beingable to take it or leave it
whenever you want, but thennever taking it because you have
no desire to take it.
That's control.
It's the same way I'm incontrol of jumping off a cliff.
It's the same way I'm incontrol of jumping in front of a
car that's moving towards me.
I have true control over that.
(02:53):
It doesn't mean I go and do it,though, because it would be
ridiculous, the same way thatputting poison ethanol, this
highly addictive drug, into mybody.
It would be like rolling a dice, and if it lands on a six, I
die right.
Why would I ever do that?
It's playing with fire.
I'm going to sound fanatical inthis video, but these are my
real thoughts.
This is how I actually feelabout this problem.
(03:15):
So whenever you hear me mentionthe word control in any of my
content, just know, when I saycontrol, I don't mean drink.
True control is being able totake it or leave it whenever you
want, but always choosing toleave it.
The reason why I'm in thisplace where I can do that is
because I've changed my paradigm.
I no longer see alcohol assomething that adds value in my
life.
I see it as this addictive drug, this poison, this thing that's
(03:38):
just going to ruin my life.
I have no positive associationwith alcohol anymore, so there
is no chance I'm ever going todrink it again.
I kind of gave away the answerto the question, but let me
unpack it further Now.
I am saying this from aposition of having gone through
this process of reframing theway I view alcohol, which
probably isn't where you're atright now.
Maybe you are there, maybeyou've already stopped drinking,
(03:58):
but if you're watching thischannel, maybe not.
The solution to your problem isto fix your worldview.
You need to fix the way thatyou view alcohol.
How Well, what you can do is dowhat I did, do what I teach my
clients to do, do what I do inmy program, but it's to use a
mental model called firstprinciples thinking.
All this is is getting a problem.
It's breaking it down into itscomponent parts.
(04:20):
It's studying the individualcomponent parts of the problem
and then putting them backtogether to create a new
paradigm.
So, instead of doing whateverybody else is doing, because
you know, if you think about it, if you want to stop drinking
alcohol and you go to a friend,you go to a doctor, you find
somebody else that you know thatstopped drinking alcohol.
What are you likely to be told?
Reduce your drinking.
Maybe you get told, come to anAA meeting.
(04:40):
Maybe you get told well, juststop.
I'm just tough, right.
It's not really very helpfuladvice, but that would be an
example of reasoning fromanalogy.
Reasoning from first principlesis really breaking it down and
studying the parts of theproblem, and you do this through
reading books, through watchingYouTube channels like mine.
I'm sure there's plenty ofother YouTube channels out there
podcasts, blogs on the internetbut the whole idea is to break
(05:03):
it down and look okay.
So let's really break downaddiction.
Let's break down this termalcoholic, let's break down
alcohol and the addictiveproperties of the drug and let's
try and study them all and thenput them back together so we
see it for what it is, so we canunlearn this conditioning and
we can get into a state of mindwhere we have control.
Now, if you want to help doingthat that's what I do with my
business, that's what mycoaching company does is we help
(05:25):
people reframe the way thatthey view alcohol, using first
principles thinking.
This has all beenscientifically validated, and if
you want to access a free videotraining that shows you how to
do it, you can just click thelink in the description put in
your name and email address.
A new video will start and thatwill show you how it works.
But going back to the originalquestion of the video, will I
ever drink again?
Well, the answer is is if Iwant to, I'll do whatever I want
, but I'm never going to drink apoison again.
(05:46):
Why would I do that?
So let's bring it back a bit,because again, you might not be
there right now.
I want to give you another quickexample, when I was a teenager.
I try not to talk about thisstuff too much because as I grew
up and as life continued,alcohol became the biggest
source of pain in my life.
But when I was like 17, 18, Ialso took drugs and I'm going to
make this short because noteverybody's going to relate with
(06:06):
this, but I used to take thislegal high with me and all of my
friends.
And I'm telling you after youtook this stuff, the days after
taking it, it makes a hangoverlook like a vacation.
There were times where we wouldstart taking the stuff on a
Friday night.
We'd stay awake all Friday, allSaturday, and then sleep on a
Sunday afternoon and I'm notexaggerating the Monday after.
For that entire week I couldn'teven speak.
(06:29):
I couldn't even leave my room.
It was like I couldn't getwords out.
Will I ever take that again?
Of course not.
You couldn't pay me.
If you gave me $100,000, I'mnot taking that stuff.
If somebody came into my housewith that substance, I would
never talk to them again, notfrom a place of judgment, but
from a place of why am I havingsomebody like this in my life?
I'm telling you that stuff wasnasty, like my elbows went blue,
my knees went blue because ofthe vasoconstriction.
(06:51):
But anyway, I don't want thischannel to become about drugs.
I'm just saying that when Ithink about that drug my mind is
like no chance would I evertouch that again.
And I use that example becauseI'm sure that there are a lot of
drugs out there that you wouldnever take, and we've always got
to remember that.
Alcohol is a drug, but it's notjust a drug.
In terms of addiction, it's oneof the most severely addictive
(07:11):
drugs on the planet.
It is up there with heroin,with crack it is no joke alcohol
and in terms of physical damageit's also one of the worst.
If we lived in an alternateuniverse where alcohol was only
just discovered today, it wouldbe immediately banned.
It would be the highest gradedrug.
However, it works.
In America, class A.
In England Nobody would evertouch the stuff.
So will I ever drink one of themost addictive, dangerous,
(07:33):
physically harming drugs on theplanet again?
Of course not.
But let me give you one finalexample.
I just want to drill this homeone more time.
If you're still thinking wow,but Leon, I'm not there yet.
You know, maybe one day I wantto have one or two drinks.
I'm going to give you a thoughtexperiment to get past this.
It's not going to be easy, butthe idea is I want to kind of
take you out of yourself so youcan look down at yourself almost
(07:54):
like your third person and youcan really just see the
situation for what it is.
Think of a loved one, right?
A child, a friend, a familymember, a spouse, just for a
second.
Let's change the drug.
Let's just say your brother,whatever family member.
They developed a severeaddiction to crack and it
destroyed their life.
Just imagine it.
Just everything in their lifecrumbled away.
And this family member.
(08:15):
They go to rehab, they getsober for 30 days and then they
get back home and I want you toimagine the feeling that you'd
have at this point.
I want you to imagine thatfamily member walks up to you
and says dad, brother, son,whoever you are.
So what I've decided to do afterthe rehab now I've cleaned my
life up and now I'm feeling goodis I'm going to reduce my
consumption.
I'm just going to smoke fromthat specific dealer when I have
(08:37):
a steak on a Friday night,because I just love the
combination of that dealer'scrack and the steak.
Can you imagine how that wouldfeel?
Can you imagine the punch inthe stomach that you'd get If
that happened to me.
I'd feel physically sick.
I'd want to cry.
I think no, please God, no,seriously.
Are there people out there thatdrink alcohol and have their
life together?
Yes, of course.
I'm not going to say that theydon't exist.
(08:58):
They're nothing to envy, butthey're out there.
But because those people existand because we live in a world
that's normalized drinkingalcohol, we can look at people
that drink and we can think, oh,maybe I could do it like them.
I am so sure that there arepeople out there that consume
other very addictive,destructive drugs and they don't
get addicted to them.
But just go back to thatexample of the family member
coming home from rehab havingdestroyed their life, having
(09:20):
caused so much pain because ofthe drug, coming back and
telling you that Because what'sthe difference if it's crack,
cocaine or a glass of red wineYou're still not closing the
door.
The most important thing thatyou can do when it comes to this
question of will I ever drinkalcohol again is fix your
paradigm.
Change the way that you viewalcohol and you will never look
back.
Thanks for checking out theStop Drinking Podcast by Sober
(09:41):
Clear If you want to learn moreabout how we work with people to
help them.
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