A bar manager changed his life after having a strict word with himself on a “random Monday" morning.
For six months, Adam Murray, from Huyton, would find “every excuse” to have a drop of alcohol. What started as one glass of wine with his dinner quickly turned into a full bottle and caused the 35-year-old to regularly wake up with anxiety.
After half a year of “things getting too much”, Adam knew he needed to make a change for the better of his physical and mental health.
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The hospitality worker told the ECHO: “On one random Monday, I just got up and thought to myself ‘this was it, I’m not doing this to myself anymore’. It was getting to be out of control and too heavy. I would have a glass of wine and it would turn into a bottle. I would always go for a pint after work every other day and then it started to become pretty much every day.
“It was every excuse for alcohol for me. If somebody had a baby, it was drink, if someone died, it was drink, if I was happy I would have a drink, if I was sad, I would have a drink. It was getting too much and my life was on repeat every morning I woke up.”
After having a “strict word” with himself on a Monday morning back in February, Adam hasn’t touched alcohol since. Still being surrounded by it and the culture that comes with working in hospitality, he now opts for a zero-percentage alcohol option so he isn’t missing out on events.
He said: “It doesn’t bother me now at all not having a drink. I feel well better, I’ve lost weight, I’m going to the gym all the time, I’ve got money and I’m sleeping better. I just feel all-round more like myself.”
Adam said the main benefit of going sober has been a change in his physical appearance. Not nursing a hangover, Adam has been following a gym routine which has seen him lose two stone in seven months.
With the help of an online coach, the hospitality worker does five workouts a week, including cardio, at Volair Huyton, based at Knowsley Leisure and Culture Park, and sticks to a calorie deficit. One thing that has motivated Adam to stay on his fitness journey has been the reaction from his mum Jacquie and brother James.
Adam shared his story in light of Sober October – which sees hundreds up and down the country go alcohol-free in often either an attempt to raise money for charity or to test-run the benefits of sobriety. Adam said: “I used to always wake up riddled with anxiety and feeling lethargic. It was pretty horrible. Since (going sober), I think I’ve had anxiety twice and I’m waking with a full night's worth of sleep, feeling great about myself.
“So much is based around alcohol in our lives but alcohol isn’t everything. People drink to drown their sorrows but eventually, sorrows learn to swim. The problems are still there the next day, they don’t go away just because you have had a drink.”
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