Achieving a Decade of Sobriety without Alcoholics Anonymous or The Disease Myth

I have not had a drop of alcohol in ten years and I never will because I will never satisfy all the people that benefit and profit from my choosing to drink again and I am more powerful than the 90% that do fail. 

Ultimately, the only person that will dictate the success of my sobriety is me and I am not diseased. If you think you are. I feel sorry for you. If you find some comfort in the way I have achieved sobriety for a decade, contact me and I will help anyone who asks by setting you free on your own journey.


Ten years sober and ten years wiser. Wiser only because I have learned Quite a bit about myself and others. I have also expanded my understanding of Alcholoics Anonymous and The Disease Myth of Alcoholism.
I think the most important thing to understanding about this Blog entry is to understand that AA is not the only way to achieve sobriety and in my opinion its a failure for most and the statistics back this opinion.

Check this out:

The essence of AA's approach is the 12 step program to abstinence. An alcoholic who follows the steps begins with the admission of an inability to control his drinking, a readiness to review his own shortcomings, and a willingness to make amends toward others whom he's hurt by his actions. Instead of promising to stop forever, alcoholics commit to living one day at a time without drinking. Nothing is required for membership beyond a commitment to stop drinking.

What if your decided that:

The essence of your sobriety is the choice not to drink. Yes abstinence. You had a  terrible habit and now it is over.

1.  However, there are no steps and you begin by admitting that you have the power alone to control your drinking by focusing on the innate power of your human spirit and brain to control your drinking.
2.  Instead of reviewing your shortcomings, you reinvest in all of your powerful traits and even discover some new ones to replace the time you spent drinking. You activate your mind, body, and spirit in a way that allows you to reinvent your life.
3. You are absolutely not concerned with spending any amount of time making amends for the people you hurt because that takes time away from focusing on yourself. You can't be anything to anyone until you learn how to rediscover the majesty and importance of yourself.. Once you can confidently look in the mirror and know you are whole and powerful, then make your apologies but yesterday will never change and the people that really matter willbe happy that you are better than ever rather than harping on your mistakes. Other people's hurt feelings should be your last concern.
4.  Instead of living one day at a time, you set goals for yourself that have nothing to do with alcohol and then by virtue of that you achieve greatness. 
5. You absolutely must promise your self that you are quitting forever and if you fail, than so what, you get off your ass, examine why you failed and keep going towards your goals outside of what was once a terrible habit, not a disease.

Alcoholics anonymous Assumes the "Disease Myth". This means that you are taught that you have no control over your "disease" so you need submit yourself to the notion that you are powerless of your choice to drink or not to drink. This thinking gives you an out. It gives you the opportunity to believe that it's okay to drink again because you can hit the "reset" button and there will be another group of co-dependent people ready to embrace your failure and promise you a new day after you hand in your chips.

If you believe you have a disease, like cancer or MS, or CF, or something else that has you ina fight for your life everyday than you will believe that you should be expected to fall. You should be expected to fail and should be expected to get up to fight another day.

If you believe that you had a habit that you started and that you have purposefully decided to end that habit by not doing it again, than you have made a choice. Assuming that you are properly detoxed and that you have not harmed your liver or destroyed some other organ like your pancreas through pacreatitis, than no one will ever know you had an alcohol issue unless you tell them.

Let me say this loud and clear. If you stop drinking and never drink again, than no doctor in the world will ever be able to run a test on you and say," wow your alcoholism is really getting better or it's coming back, or it looks bad. Why? Alcoholism is only a disease because the American Medical Association decided to call it a disease to satisfy the billions of weak human being that need an excuse to to fail and continue to drink.

One last thing, 90% of alcoholics fail or relapse within their first 4 months of sobriety. that statistic supported by the American medical Association, Doctors, Alcoholics Anonymous, and every other "support" group and professional association should be your ally not your crutch.

The American Medical association, Alcoholics Anonymous, Bars, nightclubs, liquor stores, psychologists, doctors, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, drug manufacturers, alcohol distributors and other drunks all benefit from you failing because that will reinforce their core belief in the disease myth.

I have not had a drop of alcohol in ten years and I never will because I will never satisfy all the people that benefit and profit from my choosing to drink again and I am more powerful than the 90% that do fail. Ultimately, the only person that will dictate the success of my sobriety is me and I am not diseased. If you think you are. I feel sorry for you. If you find some comfort in the way I have achieved sobriety for a decade, contact me and I will help anyone who asks by setting you free on your own journey.

Me: Beyonddriven73@gmail.com

Even LinkedIn is weighing in on Drinking!

Drinking study


I am approaching another year of sobriety in February. Over the course of the last decade I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I reversed that little gem. Yes, I am not on any pills or insulin much to the dismay of my doctors, the pharmaceutical companies, and the AMA.

I have held the same position for more than a decade now and I will hold that position until I die. Alcoholism is not a disease. Diabetes is a disease. I developed Diabetes and chronic pancreatitis from drinking too much. I can't do anything to stop the progression of my deteriorating pancreas but I have effectively "reversed" the effects of what my deteriorating pancreas has done to my body.

It was really difficult actually. However, I did it. I got up off my lazy ass and lost 55 pounds through diet and exercise by developing my own sustained fitness model. sustained fitness means that I can maintain this fitness model and its exercises until there comes a time when I can no longer run and lift weights moderately. Type 2 Diabetes is a disease. If you choose to do something about it, you can effectively manage it for the duration of your life but it is a physical abnormality of your pancreas.

Alcoholism is a choice. You choose to drink too much and then your body becomes physically addicted to the effects of alcohol. Your brain chemistry also becomes addicted to alcohol's effects.If you choose to get detoxed and never drink again, you can effectively stop drinking and live a normal life. If you have not done  damage to your liver or other organs, no one will ever know that you had a drinking problem.

Bottom line is and always will be: Alcoholism is not a disease.

No matter how much the AMA, doctors, pharmaceutical companies and most notoriously the cult of AA want you to believe that you are powerless over alcohol, you are not. society wants you to believe that you have a disease and  that you will constantly be in recovery from, this disease so that you have an excuse for your behavior.

If you consider all of the money that rehabilitation centers get that are really spawned out of the disease mentality and the AA crutch, people are spending a life savings keeping these places rich. Liquor stores are on every corner and getting wasted is how we celebrate our life. Very strange? I stopped making excuses and took ownership of my life, my choices and my disease. I'll go to any length to help anyone who asks me so that they can do the same. However, society calls alcoholism a disease and therefore it gives most people an excuse. Type 2 Diabetes is a disease and I could have just stayed on pills and or insulin but I chose not to. Fascinating right? It's because I truly believe misery loves company and that the average person loves excuses and crutches instead of solutions. I'm not the average person. Are you?

After walking out of AA more than a decade ago, I took ownership of my drinking issues after 15 years of near death experiences, jail, and car wrecks. I have had some major events take place in my life but yet I have never had a single drop of alcohol. I will experience even more major events that could be considered triggers. However instead of having to give up my AA chips, call my sponsor, or rely on a higher power, I have something much more powerful guiding my life.

This is my choice. I am not diseased and I don't need a higher power or another drunk to keep me from destroying my life by making a poor choice. Alcoholism a choice. Type diabetes is a disease. I own both of these.

I am managing my choices and my disease by turning to the one power that will always be there no matter what:

ME

Happy New Year: Who has the most reason to celebrate?

It's 11:30am. The countdown begins! You can start drinking if it's after Noon!

Wooo Hoo it's time to pre- party. Make sure you get good an loaded before you get out to the bars with your significant other or with your friends. There is no better way to mark the start of a new calendar year than to get hammered and wake up to a significantly  higher credit card balance and a dehydrated body. It's okay though because you'll be at the gym on Monday right. 

It's 2:45 am. Your buddy Joe is in the passenger seat because he was the designated driver. Unfortunately he got caught up in the "moment" and had a few but was mindful of not getting too drunk. You got some woman's digits who had just filed for divorce and was really hot. In reality she had 14 pounds of makeup on, was married, and was not at all attractive. You decided that it would be better if you drive because you only drank beer. Your other buddy John just puked outside the club and is passed out in passenger seat. You are texting everyone about the night and your experiences. what an awesome night an you only spent about $500.00

An SUV packed full of 17 year old kids cuts your car off and the next thing you know you are waking up in the hospital with a headache. Joe was killed on impact when your Prius slammed into the highway barrier. John was tossed from the car and pieces of him are smeared across the highway. At least he never knew what hit him. You survived and are nursing a massive headache only to discover you are handcuffed to your hospital bed. 

The entire SUV full of kids were killed instantly as their driver was wasted as well and none of them were wearing seat belts. You're wife is standing by your bedside crying with her pregnant best friend who was married to Joe.

Fast forward 1 month later and you are sitting in a courtroom facing a DUI charge, 6 counts of Vehicular homicide and you left your wife's best friend's kids without a father. John is dead and his family is mortified. You had a DUI back in 2008 that you thought was a fluke. Now you have a second one that really is just the icing on the cake. Your license is gone and you really won't need it because you are going to jail for vehicular homicide for 10 years. You may get out in 6. Your wife can't afford the house payments, you lose your house, you lose your job, and you are in a cell for 23 hours a day. You can sit and think about the car full of dead kids and all the other effects of your New year's Eve Celebration. 

Happy New Year Asshole! How much did Amateur night really cost you? I hope you never get out. Sorry about your disease. Bullshit! Maybe you'll get areal disease from all the prison rape you hopefully will experience after your caught crying in your cell. You made a choice just like millions of other people who want to blame a disease. You made a choice.

It's the way of the world yet people have the audacity to say alcoholism is a disease? It's a choice that goes on all year long and their are days like today set aside to take people to the next level of "cost" regarding alcohol consumption.

Numbers don't lie! People lie to suite their obsession with alcohol and sustain the disease myth! Keep the lines forming outside the AA meetings so people can replace one addiction with another, then fail, then drink again, then die. Happy New Year!

Alcohol Use

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alcohol.htm

(Data are for the U.S.)

 Prevalence

• Percent of adults 18 years of age and over who were current regular drinkers (at least 12 drinks in the past year): 51.5%
• Percent of adults 18 years of age and over who were current infrequent drinkers (1-11 drinks in the past year): 13.6%

Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2011, table 27  [PDF - 1.3 MB]

 Mortality

• Number of alcoholic liver disease deaths: 15,990
• Number of alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides: 25,692

Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2010, table 12  [PDF - 3.1 MB]

Have a drink for the over 38,000 people that die every year because of alcohol abuse. Celebrate the proven fact that you have destroyed brain cells and on average spend close to $500 to $5000 on booze, tickets, parking, and food to celebrate the end of a calendar year. That is a conservative estimate. When the night is over you can expect to be driving in a sea of people that are at the very least 5 drinks deep. Your driver may be sober but you could be driving next to a car load of completely wasted people. I'll stay home with friends and play Russian roulette with a 45 thanks! I have better odds.

It's time to celebrate but who is doing the most celebrating when the sun comes up on January 1, 2014.

The answer is:

• The bar and club owners
• The liquor industry
• Doctors
• physiologists and psychiatrists
• pharmaceutical companies.
• Lawyers
• Cops
• Rehabilitation Centers
• Alcoholics Anonymous

There are at least a dozen days/nights designated by our culture to be the money maker and death dealing celebrations that keep the liquor industry in business and keep alcoholics closer to death or people closer to alcoholism.

The Alcohol Industry makes well over 1 Billion Dollars a year. Even after deducting the cost, they make Millions in Profit.

As Americans we bastardize  or recreate every holiday to suite our culture of drinking in excess. Easter is about Jesus Christ and the Catholic religion. where did the bunnies and drinking come in to play? 

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over their French oppressors, but the bars are packed in the middle of the week with people wearing sombreros and doing shots of tequila.

St. Patrick's Day was created as a religious holiday to celebrate the Irish heritage on the day of Saint Patrick's death. The first parade in 1762 was held in America to bring together the large amounts of Irish immigrants that were living here.These first parades involved protests from the Irish for being so mistreated as immigrants, as many foreigners were exploited at that time. They marched to show the strength in their numbers and prove they deserved more. Our answer to this is to assume all Irish people love to drink and  plaster shamrocks on the walls to commemorate this uprising of the Irish immigrants. It's another day for everyone to get wasted by choice. Choice not disease!

People get wasted on Labor Day to Valentine"s Day and parents walk the streets with liquor on Halloween. Americans love to find an excuse to drink and the best part is that the government appreciates the tax revenue and rehab centers appreciate the revolving door of men, women and teens that have in excess of $20,000 to get country club help.

Here are the facts that will vary by state but I thought this was interesting:

Cost of a DUI

Cost of annual auto insurance increase over 13 years	$40,000
DUI classes	$650
Towing and storage fee ($137 a day)	$685 (at least 5 days)
Fines and attorney fees	$4,000
DMV reinstatement fee	$100
Estimated Minimum total	$45,435

Remember that these fees are the least you would pay. They don't include hospital care for the person your teen hurt, the emotional and physical costs, the inability to get a job because of the DUIrecord, or the award from any lawsuit resulting from a death. All together, those costs could total millions of dollars.
The time spent dealing with the consequences resulting from a DUI is time lost in a person's life, keeping your teen from reaching his or her goals. Here's the time breakdown.

Average time of license suspension	3 months for adults, 12 months for teens
Average time in jail	6 months
Average years on probation	3 years
Number of years with two points on driving record	13 years
DUI classes	6 months
Time in court	Several months
Convicted of murder	Possible lifetime imprisonment
Plus, can you imagine your teen being handicapped or maimed? Suffering a lifetime of guilt and pain because of harming or killing someone? Having trouble getting a good job or getting into college because of a DUI conviction?

In a nutshell, your drinking and driving could cause you to:

• Pay fines and fees of more than $55,000;

• Pay huge increases in insurance premiums;

• Pay for a costly and time-consuming alcohol abuse program for your teen; and

• Have a teen with a criminal record for a DUI.

DUI penalties for those 21 years and older also can be severe. They include:

• Mandatory jail time;

• Substantial fines and fees;

• Suspension or revocation of driver's license;

• Restrictions on when and for what purposes one may drive;

• Being assigned to an alcohol or drug treatment program;

• Installation of an ignition interlock devise on a car; and

• Impoundment of a car.

A first DUI offense requires an adult offender to be:

• Jailed for at least 48 hours;

• Fined substantially;

• Restricted to driving only to and from work or an alcohol treatment program;

• Ordered to attend a three-month or six-month alcohol treatment program;

This New Year's eve ask yourself if you think it's an accident that there is a liquor store on every corner in lower income neighborhoods. There is a liquor store in every town. The difference is what they sell. If the homes are worth 300K than you'll find expensive wine and premium beer. If the housing is government subsidized you'll find 40oz of the lowest quality malt liquor for $2.00. The alcohol industry does not discriminate and neither does alcoholism. However, alcoholism is still a choice. The problem is that once you get in too deep there is no turning back and stopping will kill you. alcohol is the only addiction where stopping cold turkey will kill you. No other drug has that power yet all other drugs are illegal?

What is the cost of alcoholism? 

http://www.cdc.gov/features/CostsOfDrinking/

The High Cost of Excessive Drinking to States
A new study finds that excessive alcohol use cost states a median of $2.9 billion in 2006, or about $1.91 per drink. Find out how much excessive alcohol use costs where you live.
Excessive alcohol use cost states a median of $2.9 billion in 2006, ranging from $420 million in North Dakota to $32 billion in California, according to a new CDC study. This means the median cost per state for each alcoholic drink consumed was about $1.91. Binge drinking—consuming 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women—was responsible for more than 70% of these costs.

The District of Columbia (DC) had the highest per-person cost ($1,662), while Utah had the highest cost per drink ($2.74). Furthermore, about $2 of every $5 in state costs were paid by government, ranging from 37% of the costs in Mississippi to 45% of the total costs in Utah.

The researchers found that costs due to excessive drinking largely resulted from losses in workplace productivity, health care expenses, and other costs due to a combination of criminal justice expenses, motor vehicle crash costs, and property damage. Across all states and DC, the share of costs from productivity losses ranged from 61% in Wyoming to 82% in DC, and the share of costs from health care expenses ranged from 8% in Texas to 16% in Vermont.

These estimates were based on a previous CDC study that found that excessive drinking cost the United States $223.5 billion in 2006. Costs were assessed for states and DC across 26 cost categories using data multiple sources.

Researchers believe that the study's findings are underestimated because it did not consider a number of other costs, such as those due to pain and suffering by the excessive drinker or others who were affected by the drinking. Even so, the total costs for excessive drinking to states were generally of the same order of magnitude as the costs for smoking or Medicaid.

Make a New Year's resolution to be powerful. Save your money during an uncertain economy. Party responsibly at a friend's house where you can crash if you need to. Save your self a few hundred bucks and put that money towards opening an IRA for your future instead of making everyone else rich besides you.

If you want to be really crazy, be superhuman and go out and drink water. Stay in hotel next to the bar where you party and you may find that you have much more to celebrate. wake up on January 1st at 6:00 am and while the world is asleep, go to the gym or go for a run. Make it really a new year's eve celebration to remember. Watch all the morons throw their money away and make themselves sick. watch people do the dumbest things and act ridiculous. Listen to people question you every five minutes when they see you with a bottle of water.

Be that guy or girl who is really celebrating something. Celebrate yourself! Celebrate Life! Happy New Year!

Spartan Racing and the Miracle of the Cure: You'll know at the finish line!

Anyone of any fitness level at any time can do a Spartan Race and should! I have type 2 diabetes and am 10 years clean and sober. I am a spartan competitor but what does that mean? Spartan Racing's mantra is that, "You will know at the finish line."

What will I know at the finish line?

In March of 2012 I saw this: www.spartrace.com  I decided to investigate beyond the drama and theater of the opening inspirational testosterone filled video. I had seen the movie 300 about the Spartans and remember vividly the scene where the king asks his men what their profession is. What a great scene filled with the stuff that over caffeinated testosterone filled teenage boys love. Here is the scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI6sARmxEuc..

Now strip away all of that nonsense and calm down.It's marketing and imagination.What I needed to know was what was this Spartan Racing thing about and was it for me. If you follow my blog and or Twitter feed at @MasterofOne73 you understand that I am a fully recovered "alcoholic". Alcoholism is not a disease . It is a habit that anyone can break. Any person who has not done permanent physical damage tot heir internal organs can eliminate all emotional, mental, and physical signs of the supposed disease once they are medically detoxed. If you choose to live your life going to AA and going through 12 step and becoming dependent on those things for your sobriety than you have subscribed to the myth of "alcoholism " being a disease and you will always be in "recovery" . I chose not to live that life based on the scientific facts of the habit as opposed to the lie of the disease myth. The disease myth is a lie and I am living proof. One of my most recent blog posts was about a trip to a new doctor who had no understanding of my "alcoholism" until I told him, even after blood tests.

On the other hand , I am also a type 2 Diabetic. That is truly a disease and is not going anywhere. However a proper diet and exercise regiment will decrease the need for drugs and or insulin when dealing with the progression and treatment of the disease.I did this to myself through alcoholism so I thought i would handle it standing on my own two feet without drugs and insulin if I could.

Reversing Diabetes: http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/20/5-steps-to-reversing-type-2-diabetes-and-insulin-resistance/#close

Stop drinking and break the habit of Alcoholism without 12 step or AA: http://www.wikihow.com/Quit-Drinking-without-Alcoholics-Anonymous

This is Sparta!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qR0Uke2XNI
Now that we have the basics down let's shift back to March of 2012. I began subscribing to the Workout of the Day (WOD)  to the letter of the law as written by the PHD level Spartan Trainers. I met with the head trainer for Spratan racing because I happen to be a tenacious salesperson and I sought him out. I spoke to and shook the hand of the creator of the Spartan Race who is an incredible man with a kind soul. I was introduced to training experts and marketing people from the Spartan organization and they all seemed to have the same lighting rod firing through their core. I decided that I was going to train and try and run the 8 mile Spartan Sprint which was coming in August in the area I grew up in as a little boy! The irony!

Spartan racing begins at the 3 mile level and moves to an 8 mile level and then a 13 mile level. Beyond that are 26 mile races and a "Death Race covering days of  physical, emotional, and mental endurance. In March of 2012, I decided to start training. I received no special instruction or personal attention from anyone at Spartan Racing, I just subscribed to the workout of the day training regimen and tailored it to my own thresholds of physical strength, endurance, and mental toughness. I received words of encouragement and fed off of their energy and tips. They kept telling me it was not about winning. Not about winning? I didn't have to be Hobie Call: The World's number one Spartan Racing competitor?. I just had to be a better me. A different me. I had to train to try and finish a race. If I didn't finish than I could always try again. Wow?

I had not run a single mile since I was a teenager. I just turned 40 this past Spring. I had to try and  run now but I had to run up hills, not only did I have to run up hills but I had to run up mountains. I had to lift too. However, I had to stop lifting weights.What? Instead, I had to lift 50 pound sandbags and carry them up hills and then run and then immediately drop and do burpees. What's a burpee? A burpee is important because the Spartan Race obstacle course is filled with obstacles and if you cannot successfully negotiate an obstacle you have to do 30 burpees.

The burpee: http://www.spartanracehq.com/the-burpee/

My race was coming in August. I was going back to my childhood home as a truly changed man. In March I ran my first mile in over 12 minutes. I had no running ability at all. I fell down after my first attempt at a mile. I could barely do one burpee never mind 30 and I was met with defeat every time I tired to perform a workout of the day. I then realized why the mantra of the Spartan Race was not to win but to finish. My training was focused on being competitive my first time out because of all my life's missteps.In the end all I needed to do was finish.

Four and half months of training harder than I ever trained before was allowing me to reflect on my life, on my sobriety, and on my diabetes. It allowed me to focus on my diet, my job, structure my time, and feel alive. I had a goal, a purpose, and I was determined to finish.What will I know at the finish line?

Race day: In august of 2012 I drove to the race. It took me 5 hours and I drove alone and raced alone. I was nervous as there was really fit jacked up guys and galls pumped and ready to go. I was a newbie and I was alone. I was a  type 2 diabetic with chronic pancreatitis and a ten year bout with the habit of alcoholism. I walked to the starting gate and heard" Aroo Arooo" ( this is the chant of the Spartans in the movie 300). I was nervous as hell. The race began and I was running straight up a mountain with 300 other screaming people.

Suddenly the screaming stopped, the muscle heads had slowed to a crawl, the guys wearing spartan costumes were down with their hands on their knees, and I heard laughter. People were laughing! People were having fun. People were kids again. Groups of friends had decided to run together and help each other through the mud and beyond the obstacles. People were there to encourage each other and make sure that no one was left behind. There were husband and wife teams, friends, and even guys and gals in their 60s and 70s moving along and enjoying every moment of the event and scenery. People were talking to each other and encouraging each other along.People were handing out sips of their water and offering energy bars to strangers. Of course there were veteran racers that were tearing through the course with a look of feverish determination.

I was definitely on the side of feverish determination and I reached the finish line in pain because I pushed myself every second of the way to make sure I never stopped running.I was running against my own demons. It was a journey that had my mind, heart, body and soul screaming in pain and in joy because I knew why I was there. I knew that I had trained to the best of my ability. The best of my ability......The best of my ability!

I placed in the top 15% in my age group that day. Spartan marketing was true to form. They say you know when you are at the finish line. I knew and I collapsed. I laid there on the ground and I immediately reflected on my journey. They had extended the course to 11 miles without telling anyone until we stepped up to the starting line. I had just run 11 miles and gotten through all the obstacles except two. I never stopped moving.

The miracle of Spartan Racing is that simply deciding to go to train for a race is a miracle. Simply trying to take that first step out your front door to run even 1/2 a mile is a miracle for some. Carrying a sandbag, doing a burpee, running hiking trails, climbing a mountain, and becoming part of the Spartan Community is a miracle. You are forever changed by simply becoming part of the Spartan community. You will never be turned away!Nothing in life is easy. You have to be uncomfortable in order to make things different for yourself. To make a change for the better, you must endure some level of doubt, fear, and discomfort.

Spartan Racing is not about screaming warriors. It's about the miracle of the cure for what is troubling you physically,mentally, and emotionally. It's all interconnected. I lost 30 pounds just training for Spartan racing. I can run a 5K in under 25 minutes. I can run up a double black diamond ski trail. I can do 50 burpees in a row. Even if I never ran a Spartan Race,  I won.

The people of Spartan Racing have developed a community that allows anyone of any fitness level to enjoy the miracle of  facing fears, setting goals and accomplishing anything you want. There is a spartan group for women, for hard core runners, and for anyone everywhere.

I no longer use insulin to treat my diabetes, I remain sober and I managed to run three races last year and place in the top 25% in my age group in each race.I enjoy a successful career and am a husband and father.

If I had one wish, it would be that every alcoholic or addict I knew who subscribed to the lie of AA and 12 step programs could  read this blog.. If you believe you are diseased and that you will be in recovery for the rest of your life than you are limiting yourself. Instead of a coin get a medal for finishing a Spartan Race.You maybe be alive but why not thrive! Instead of wasting hours in a room with codependent people who believe they are diseased, get out and train for a Spartan Race. You will know at the finish line!

 If I could tell every diabetic that sits around complaining about their insulin pump and the need for a cure about training for a Spartan Race, I would. I'm not a doctor, a psychologist, or a certified fitness trainer. I'm a diabetic who eliminated the need for insulin or pills. I also have chronic pancreatitus and I don't take pain medication because pain is relative. I wish I could tell every diabetic to train for a race and that "You will know at the finish line!"

My 5 year old did his first race last year, I will be racing with him on the adult course when he is 14 years old. The Miracle of Spartan Racing is that the cure for the biggest problems associated with the habit of alcoholism and the disease of diabetes is the mental, emotional, and physical process one goes through simply training for a race and joining the Spartan Community.You 'll know  at the finish line.

So what did I "know" at the finish line? I knew that I had to tell everyone that cared to listen that they need to "know" for themselves. See you in 2013 and beyond!

Thank you to every member of the Spartan racing team and to the entire Spartan Racing community!

Arooo!

Alcoholism and My Annual Physical: Nothing but Fun!

Today I went to a new Doctor because I changed jobs and had to find a doctor who accepted my insurance. I was fortunate that I did not have a chance to have my medical records forwarded prior to my going to this doctor.

I wanted to test a theory I had:

Facts are:

1. I drank heavily enough to have seizures during the last 3 years of my 15 year drinking experieinces.
2. I was hospitalized over 15 times with acute pancreatitis: http://www.uptodate.com/contents/acute-pancreatitis-beyond-the-basics
3. I was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis for which I was given pain medication. I took that for about two years and then stopped because I decided that pain is relative.
4. I had multiple DUI's and visits to jail
5. I spent years in and out of #AA
6. I went from one rehab clinic to another only to leave and continue drinking
7. I developed Diabetes as a result of destroying my pancreas but that didn't come on until 7 years into my Sobriety.
8. I was on pills and then on insulin for a year until I decided to lose 35 pounds and start training like a ravenous beast

This new doctor and I had a conversation about my lab work that had come back and he had some concerns and was very empathetic and kind when he told me that I was borderline Diabetic. This was something that he could not explain because my Body Mass index indicated that I was overweight but he went on to explain that the BMI calculator does not account for overly muscular people. My blood pressure was 114 over 74 and this caused some further confusion. He asked me about my diet and I told him that I ate sensibly and splurged when i wanted to but was restrictive because I was an athlete. We went on to talk about my family history and there is no pattern or history of Diabetes. He struggled on for about 15 minutes until I told him to stop trying to understand.

I decided to give him the facts as I listed them out above. Suddenly all the lights went on and this guy understood what he was dealing with here. He then asked me if I was an alcoholic? I said, " Define the word "Alcoholic". He smiled and explained that he was asking if I had a drinking problem. I responded that this was avery different question than asking me if I was an alcoholic. I explained that the American medical Association defines and Alcoholic as someone who has a disease which they decided to label as alcoholism.

( http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/alcoholism)

I went on to explain that one point I had a very bad habit of drinking everyday until alcohol took over my body and caused me to become mentally and moreover physically dependent on it to get through the day. When I was forced by seizures and acute pancreatitis to be hospitalized, I was medically detoxed and went through rehabilitation  so in essence I developed a very bad habit that I brought on myself for a variety of psychological or environmental reasons and it consumed me physically. I concluded my dissertation about the habit of alcoholism by saying that I no longer had this awful habit because I had stopped drinking completely and live a very healthy life both physically and mentally. As a successful executive  father, and husband, I no longer have the need for this habit.

The look on my new doctor's face was one of pure delight. He congratulated me on my success in staying sober. I explained that there was no reason for him to congratulate me because I only had one choice, I could stop drinking or die. Anyone who does not make that choice deserves to die because they obviously do not have any of their rational thought processes or natural animal instincts of self preservation left. I n essence, if someone chooses to continue drinking when they know they are going to die than they deserve to die. They have essentially committed suicide. I believe and know that anyone who is medically detoxed and given some small amount of  counseling in order to regroup can stop drinking. It's actually very simple.

My doctor said it was not that simple and that alcoholism is a disease that kills millions of people. I said," you're right dr. *****. Alcoholism does kill millions of people. The American Medical association as made it so people who develop a drinking habit of their own free will now have an excuse. They have a label that they can put on themselves that prevents them from fighting back against that which started them down the path of drinking. They now can sit in a room with 30 other defeatist losers with a ten year pin who rely heavily on each other to stay away from the transcendent power of alcohol. There are legions of groups stronger than any other cause or political group that meet daily to whine on their hands and knees about their "disease". The AMA feeds this disease with counseling and drugs and hospitalization and million dollar rehab centers.................He stopped me before i could finish my tirade

He said okay I understand where you are coming from, so how did you do it? How did you stop drinking? I looked him straight in the face and said, I did it on my hands and feet. I did it on the strength of what is inside me. I did it angry. The day I walked out of the hospital I went to every bar and liquor store that over served me and thanked those people for being who they were. At my rehab center I ignored everything I was told about Alcoholics Anonymous and 12 step and I focused on myself and my anger. My anger was not only for the people who had looked me in the face and served me when i had no money or abandoned me when i was passed out cold and alone, it was for me.

My anger was mostly directed at the one person who not only caused all this pain but also the one person who could end it. I was not going to let any doctor or definition tell me I had a disease for the rest of my life and I was going to change everything.

Facts:

1. This February I am sober for ten years without a hiccup.
2. I walked out of #AA ten years ago and never looked back as it insulted my intelligence and understanding of what it means to be a human being.
3. I have been off insulin and other drugs for Diabetes for years and never check my blood sugar
4. I have not taken any pain medication for my chronic pancreatitis despite pain that most people would not be able to ignore
5. I am a successful business executive with my own home and beautiful wife and son
6. I can run ten miles at an 8:10 second per mile pace without blinking 3 weeks before my 40th birthday
7. I can lift almost twice my body weight on bench press
8. I have performed at the elite levels in 4 different obstacle races in my first year of trying

I had a great trip to my new doctor's office today because I am not an "alcoholic". I had a nasty habit that I broke. I tested my theory and had some pretty god results with the evidence that I collected.

There isn't a doctor in the world that can tell me I am an alcoholic. The reason is that alcoholism is not a disease. Diabetes is but they had a hard time with that one too because I worked really hard to get where I am. Chronic pancreatitis is a condition but the pain is bearable considering my body of work in the pain department.

There is no such thing as Alcoholism as a disease. Cancer is a disease, Multiple Sclerosis is a disease, and leukemia is a disease. You can't possibly compare a drinking habit to those true diseases. Alcoholics Anonymous,12 step programs, and every rehab center in the country wants you to believe in the lie of "Alcoholism" as a disease". Then and only then will you have an excuse to fail.

You can live the rest of your life on your knees as an "alcoholic" or on your feet as a powerful human being.

Alcoholism is not a Disease!

Disclaimer: I am not for everyone but I may be for you!

Disclaimer!

I wanted add a new posting to my blog to act as a disclaimer and I have not written in some time. I am not for everyone and my beliefs will almost definitely alienate a huge cross section of those I intend to reach. My response is, " I am not for everyone."

1. Human beings are inherently weak. Through societal conditioning, psychologists, psychiatrists and drug companies,  human beings are a race of dependents. AA counts on this and has the worst success rate for suffering addicts among all other options. wait , what happens if you don't understand that there are other options. You yourself are weak and even worse is the fact that the people who love you and surround you often times become weak in the face of addiction. They have no way of understanding what needs to be done how how to do what needs to be done and they let their loved ones die. Therefore you alone must understand that if you are an addict you r ass needs to be put away in jail or in a rehab center to get medically detoxed and then you alone need to take control of your own life without the label of alcoholism telling you that you are powerless.How do I know this?

• I drank and drugged hard for ten years , suffered seizures  lived alone and all my friends and family abandoned me and left me to die because they had no idea what to do when I alone had lost the will to live. I've seen and personally dealt with dozens of addicts and people that have dies or tried to kill themselves subscribing to AA and the myth of alcoholism.

1. Alcoholism is something that has been debated for centuries and the american medical association finally decided to call it a disease because they stand to profit from the care given to hose weak minded enough to believe they are diseased. The pharmaceutical companies also benefit huge from the addicted mind. Do the research and do the homework. Alcoholism is not a disease. It is a habit that you created through your own free will. It is not passed on through race like the Irish claim nor through genes. None of that has ever been proven or documented with irrefutable facts. However calling the habit of drinking too much alcohol until your body becomes addicted to it has been called a disease because a truly addicted person stops growing and changing mentally and emotionally so its easy to label as a disease because it does effect you for the long term. However, if you are medically detoxed, get sober, and never drink again. You can become an MVP quarterback in the Superbowl . ask Kurt ?Warner? How do I know this?

• I did some serious damage to my liver and pancreas and now have chronic pancreatitius as well as diabetes as a result of drinking. However Noone would look at me and know that I have either of these things because I am currently in the best shape of my entire life. I have 9 years of sobriety and have never ever had a relapse. Ever! I went to AA a few times and was disgusted with the caliber of people and left. I was medically detoxed, and then stopped drinking and never drank again. There is not a single doctor inthe world that could do a single test on me and say that i had" alcoholism" because it does not exist. I am living proof. extraordinarily powerful and unique living proof but living proof none the less.

1. AA is bullshit and is the ultimate way to replace your addiction and dependence on a substance with an addiction and dependence on people who are dependent on each other in a group psychosis type of atmosphere. This atmosphere feeds off powerlessness, weakness, and attributing sobriety to a god that may or may not exist. I could do that too and maybe attribute my success to the Smurfs but if the Smurfs don't exist. the point is that dependent people need other dependent people and a "higher" power for #AA to work and thrive. If there was no higher power than i guess you would have to attribute your sobriety to a sponsor. what happens when that sponsor fails or drinks and god forbid loses his coins or chip on his key ring. where do you turn. How do I know this:

• There is no one on the face of the earth that can ever tell themselves or anyone else that someone else or something else was or is responsible for their success. There may be people or situations that have helped along the way but if a person does take ownership of achieving a goal on their own they will fail.If you choose to be a powerless "alcoholic" that sits in a room full of other powerless people than that is who you are and your achievements are contained within that bubble of thinking and way of understanding your own existence. Conversely, if you understand that you are the only person who can change your circumstance and that "alcoholism" is a label and not a disease, than you can get medically detoxed, stop drinking and simply move on through life and do whatever you set your mind to doing. How do I know this:

1. 9 years of sobriety without a hiccup with drugs and or alcohol. 
2. Quit smoking
3. Changed my diet when diagnosed with Diabetes and got off insulin completely and all other medication to treat type 2 diabetes by losing 50 pounds
4. play 3 sports
5. weight training for 5 years without fail suspended only to train for distance running
6. Went from running a 20 minute mile to a sub 6 minute mile pace for 10 miles.
7. Trained and successfully completed and placed in the top 10% in my age range in two extreme obstacle course races at 40 years old after having my ACL replaced 1.5 years earlier.
8. Walked out of AA rooms 9 years ago and never looked back
9. Have had 9 successful checkups every year and notonce was told I had alcoholism. apparently it's in remission! :)
10. I am a father, a Director at a company,a husband, a brother, a son, a nephew, a cousin, and uncle, a friend, a grandson and the unstoppable master of one.

My blog is candid. It is arrogant. It is arrogant and it is accusatory because I wish someone had spoken to me this way when I was drinking 100 proof vodka for breakfast and at lunch to keep from shaking during my meetings and puking when I got home. Addiction is an ugly habit that I brought on myself as a result of some possible psychological issue or otherwise but it is a problem I solved not a disease.

Someday I hope to open my own rehab center that helps people learn exactly what I did to get where I am today but in the meantime, I am that "asshole" as someone who commented on my blog portrayed me that will say things as they are, not how they appear to be. Everyone benefits from the lie of "alcoholism" and AA except the people that face those terms and ideals.

I am proof. I am the master of One and I am here to help If you don't like anything you have read. If you don't like what I have to say and if you don;'t find me credible. challenge me! I want to know what I have done wrong to get where I am today.

If yourself subscribe to #AA and have 30 years of sobriety and a higher power poster in your head with a meeting you attend everyday of the week. Good for you. You are not what I envision a powerful human being to be but you are sober and alive. Good for you.

The reality is that there is another way to live and it's powerful beyond measure.

Hello,

My name is irrelevant but I am Unstoppable It's good to see you all here. Please don't sit and you really have no need to drink coffee. There will be no cigarette breaks and you will not be privy to any outlandish tales of destruction, criminal behavior, drug use, alcohol binges, or anything about my past problem with drugs and alcohol. I solved that problem back when I was 130 pounds and could not walk while sitting in an overpriced rehab center by myself. I solved it while standing in a bathroom after fighting with a "counselor" who encouraged me to "surrender". In front of that mirror I found anger. Anger is the best friend I have ever known.

Leave your Big Book of bullshit at the door Dr. Bob and leave your parables and stories on the street disciples of herd morality and weakness. This is not a pity party and I am not your sponsor. No one kneels. No one prays. No one surrenders, no one is powerless over anything or anyone. If you cannot abide by my rules in this meeting, you don't belong here and you wouldn't survive. 

You could walk away from this gathering with a sense that I am an angry person but that is simply not the case in the way that you initially envision an angry person. I found anger or maybe anger found me and it makes me the best person I can be and helped me defeat my issue with alcohol and drugs. My credibility in this meeting can all be summarized by this fact: I have been clean and sober for 8 years without a moments hesitation or lapse in my commitment to being sober and clean. I never once went to an AA meeting after being forced to by the police and the courts and the only twelve steps I take are with a cinder block on my shoulder when I am training with kettle bells or walking to the fridge to make a protein shake.

Jobless, homeless, penniless are all realities I faced. That person chose to drink himself to near death. That person chose to destroy his organs. That person also chose to get medically detoxed and then never do it again. I am that person and I do not have a disease because alcoholism is not a disease.

If alcoholism is a disease I hide it very well with some sort of sorcery because I am 170 pounds of lean muscle, a management executive in a technology company, i run a 6.5 minute mile and I am training for a Spartan Race ( www.spartanrace.com) all this after ripping my ACl into pieces while playing basketball and developing diabetes. Yes I rehabbed the ACL without a physical therapist. I had the surgery and "rehabbed" the new cadaver ACL in my basement. wanna race?

You would think that if I had another disease like "Alcoholism" it would be playing off the other diseases and I would be in a wheel chair or something similar.The fact is that Alcoholism is a human construct designed to take away your ability to be human. You are no more than just an animal like those that walk on four legs. what separates you from those animals is a societal structure that dictates how you use your greatest asset: You human brain.

I laid in bed beside a guy with liver disease who was dying in the bed next to me when I was recovering from acute pancreatic. I asked the guy why he was there and he told me that he was dying from liver failure. I told him why I was there and his eyes told a story that I really could never even have the stomach to write down. The fact is that this guy never even had a drop of booze in his life and he was dying. I decided that a half gallon habit of 100 proof vodka was a way of living my life and I was going to walk out of there. Who had the disease?

I only wish my friend anger would have looked back at me in the mirror then. all she did was whisper. It took a dozen more hospital visits and a seizure before I had the opportunity to be in front of the mirror that anger decided to walk through and tap me on the shoulder.  Here are some ideas about anger that I found interesting:

Triggering anger

Anger happens when I am frustrated from achieving my goals. This may be a repeated thing, with each occurrence stoking the anger I am repressing until I cannot hold it in any more.

Anger is often an response to an insult to me or my friends. It is thus a defending action against an attack on my identity.

Anger is generally past-focused. That is, we are more often angry at things that have already happened. Even when I am angry about the future, it often is triggered by my putting myself into further into the future and looking back at a 'future perfect' event that 'has happened'.

The power of anger

Anger can be a very powerful way of getting what you want, especially in the short term. Indeed, this is one of the key reasons why it exists. When a chimpanzee displays anger, it is signalling to others that the subject in hand is very important to it, and it is ready to fight for it. Unless other chimpanzees are prepared to duel, maybe to the death, then they are more likely to back down.

Anger is also the last response of a cornered victim, and many a mild-mannered person has turned into a raging hulk when they feel there is no alternative. The surprise they create in their oppressors is often so great it gives them the winning hand.

Anger also gives a general power signal that does not need to be used that often, as other peace-loving people will generally tend to back down before a person they know has a tendency to anger. A 'look' is often all it takes.

Showing anger creates threat of harm. In this way, anger seeks to create fear, which leads to capitulation or retreat. In this way, anger is a form of power.

Anger can also be a positive long-term energiser, such as when a teenager decides to 'show' his parents that he is not the lazy slob they seem to think he is.

The hazard of anger

Although there are short-term gains to be had with anger, there are also a number of hazards. First, your bluff may be called and you can get into losing battles. A reason for this is that as anger boils over into rage you can easily lose all judgement and control and hence take on an opponent who can easily give you a good pasting (or hurt someone you do not want to hurt).

Anger and the effective attack (physical or psychological) can also gain you enemies. Even someone you have beaten and who now seems to be your friend is probably waiting for the moment when they can safely take their revenge.

Displacement

As anger is so hazardous, we often find other ways to vent it, displaced either in time or location. For example a person who is frustrated at work may be angry with their family, or perhaps will avoid this by going for a run immediately when they get home.

Displacement is a huge source of continued human strife, as we pass on our anger to other people, who do likewise.

One method of displacement of anger towards another person is to vent it on a punchbag or another inanimate object. This is seldom useful in cathartic 'releasing' of the anger -- research has shown that it just makes you angry for longer.

Thank you for hanging around this long. Anger as you can see can be useful. If you are smart enough to wage war with only yourself, you will never hurt anyone else. anger can help you wage that war with the self that allowed you to make the decision to drink and drug. There is no such thing as alcoholism but there is such a thing as choice.

http://www.baldwinresearch.com/alcoholism.cfm

Alcoholism: A disease of speculation

"In 1976, the writer Ivan Illich warned in the book, Limits to Medicine, that 'the medical establishment has become a major threat to health'. At the time, he was dismissed as a maverick, but a quarter of a century later, even the medical establishment is prepared to admit that he may well be right. (Anthony Browne, April 14, 2002, the Observer)"

History and science have shown us that the existence of the disease of alcoholism is pure speculation. Just saying alcoholism is a disease, doesn't make it true. Nevertheless, medical professionals and American culture enthusiastically embraced the disease concept and quickly applied it to every possible behavior from alcohol abuse to compulsive lecturing and nail biting. The disease concept was a panacea for many failing medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies, adding billions of dollars to the industry and leading to a prompt evolution of pop-psychology. Research has shown that alcoholism is a choice, not a disease, and stripping alcohol abusers of their choice, by applying the disease concept, is a threat to the health of the individual.

The disease concept oozes into every crevice of our society perpetuating harmful misinformation that hurts the very people it was intended to help. Remarkably, the assumptions of a few were accepted as fact by the medical profession, devoid of any scientific study or supporting evidence. And soon after, the disease concept was accepted by the general public. With this said, visiting the history of the disease concept gives us all a better understanding of how and why all of this happened.

The disease concept originated in the 1800s with a fellow by the name of Dr. Benjamin Rush. He believed those who drank too much alcohol were diseased and used the idea to promote his prohibitionist political platform. He also believed that dishonesty, political dissention and being of African-American decent were diseases. The "disease concept" was used throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s by prohibitionists and those involved in the Temperance Movement to further their political agenda. Prior to c.1891, the term alcoholic, referring to someone who drank too much alcohol, did not exist. Before that, alcohol was freely consumed, but drunkenness was not tolerated. Many sociologists contribute its non-existence to the very stigma that the disease concept removes. Drunkenness was not so much seen as the cause of deviant behavior-in particular crime and violence- as it was construed as a sign that an individual was willing to engage in such behavior." (H.G. Levine, "The Good Creature of God and the Demon Rum," in Alcohol and Disinhibitition, eds. R. Room and G. Collins.) During this period of time social ties and family played a much more influential role in an individual's life. Therefore, deviant behaviors were undesirable and less likely to occur. It was not until industrialization began, when the importance of social and family ties diminished, that alcoholism became a problem. We now live in a society that encourages binge drinking as a social norm, but at the same time, we live in a society that discourages it.

The "recovery" community's adoption of the disease concept began with an early AA member named Marty Mann. Her efforts, combined with a somewhat dubious scientist named E.M. Jellinek, began national acceptance of the disease concept. It was Jellinek's self-proclaimed "scientific" study that opened the door for the medical community’s support. E.M. Jellinek's study was funded by the efforts of Marty Mann and R. Brinkley Smithers. And, like so many other circumstances involving Jellinek and Mann, the study was bogus, if not outright fraudulent. The surveys Jellinek based his conclusions on were from a handpicked group of alcoholics. There were 158 questionnaires handed out and 60 of them were suspiciously not included. His conclusion was based on less than 100 handpicked alcoholics chosen by Marty Mann. Mann, of course, had a personal agenda to remove the stigma about the homeless and dirty alcoholic or "bowery drunk" in order to gain financial support from the wealthy. By removing the stigma, the problem becomes one of the general population, which would then include the wealthy. The first step was Jellinek publishing his findings in his book “The Disease Concept of Alcoholism," which was based on selected subjects who fit the criteria supporting Mann’s preconceived conclusions. Later, E.M. Jellinek was asked by Yale University to refute his own findings. He complied. E.M. Jellinek's The Disease Concept of Alcoholism did not stand up to scientific scrutiny.

Early in the 20th Century, the validity of the disease concept was often debated in medical circles. However, in 1956 the American Medical Association (AMA) proclaimed alcoholism an "illness." Then, in 1966, the AMA proclaimed alcoholism a disease. The decision was embroiled in controversy. Historically, Marty Mann had her hand in much of this and manipulated information and doctors into agreeing with the disease concept. Marty Mann used her position as founder of the NCA (National Counsel for Alcoholism) to promote the disease concept through Jellinek and the founder of the NIAAA (National Institute for Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse) whose founder worked with Marty Mann during the institute's early development. The founder of NIAAA, R. Brinkley Smithers, was a major contributor to, and promoter of, the disease concept. It was his money that actually funded Jellinek's work at Yale. Smithers was also responsible for gaining insurance coverage for patients in treatment (hence the 28 day program.) Smithers was certainly not altruistic in his efforts. At that time he had already launched a treatment program for which he was lobbying for insurance payments. Acceptance by the medical community was the only way this could happen; alcoholism had to be a medical problem in order for medical insurance to pay for programs. We can see the influence of these "advances" everyday in treatment programs. Today, the treatment industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, with insurance paying the lion's share of the costs. [Author’s note: In 2008, insurance companies paid for approximately 40% of those who underwent alcohol and drug treatment. By 2008 “the lion’s share” of the cost of drug and alcohol treatment was paid by private payers.]

While it can be argued that Smithers' efforts played an important role, it was Jellinek's study that was such a monumental turning point for the supporters of the disease concept. The disease model was, in part, developed and promulgated by Jellinek and various other partial participants, all with personal agendas. Today (2009), Jellinek's "Stages of the Alcoholism" is still widely used to diagnose substance abuse.

I am a walking breathing living example of the power of action versus reaction. I am the antithesis of AA and 12 step. I am God in the same way that you are. You are not diseased. Your society, the doctors, the pharma companies, and the coddling rehab centers are the disease. They are the financial gift that keeps on giving over and over back into the system that welcomes people who drop to their knees and cry for help to cure their disease.

Stand and be recognized and welcome to your new life as an unstoppable master of one!