The Discomfort

So, again, I am going to quit drinking for 2 months. I'm just doing it because I can. There is no medical need. I just thought it would be cool to try it. So, to succeed, I know you need to be prepared. 

Quitting any habit is hard. There are those moments you want to eat chocolate. There are those moments where you want to have a drink. 

So, you go to the store. You make that decision. You decide to go to the store. You decide to walk down the aisle of the store. You decide to go down the beer aisle. You decide to go down the whiskey aisle. You decide to put the stuff in your cart. You decide to go home and make yourself a drink. You put that drink to your lips. You put the liquid in your mouth. You swallow. And you do this over and over and over and over again. 

You put the poison in your house and you put it in your mouth. It’s your personal choice to do this over and over and over thoughout the years.

Do you want ot stop. Just stop doing it. Just stop going to the store. Just stop putting it to your lips. 

It's just a bottle. It's just a block of chocolate. It's just a cigarette. It has no telepathic abilities. It can't make you eat or drink it. It can't do anything. It will just sit there forever if you don't pick it up. It has no control over you. It has no hold over you. 

In fact, it's the exact opposite: you control it. So you can control whether you eat or drink it or not.

Sometimes, it’s as though a voice in the back of your head says, “Go get some.” You know, you’re 21 years or older. You can just go into any store and get it. No one can tell you not to. This is true even if a court says you can’t drink.

Really, you can if you want. You make the choice, you can do it. You just can’t get caught if you have a contract on your head. 

So, you have to get over the discomfort. You will have those moments. But, they only last a few moments. Go away. Go do something else. Go for a walk on the beach. Go for a walk around the block. Play a game with your kids. The moment will pass. That uncomfortable moment will pass. The urge will go away.

The Goal

So, I'm going to quit drinking for 2 months. There's no medical reason for doing this. I don't think drinking is bad. Still, I thought it would be cool to try going without for a few months' just to see what it's like. I want to see if it offers any benefits. 

So, when you quit anything, it's good to set goals. Mine is to be a better father. That was the guy from Alcohol Mastery’s goal. He wanted to be the best influence that he could possibly be. I want that. But, I also want to be healthier. I want to feel good. I don’t want to waste an entire day recouping. I never get really bad hangovers. 

Like, I don’t drink that much. But, still, it makes it difficult to stay in shape. You are usually fatigued to some extent the next day. I find that I’m unable to write as much or as good as I want. I sleep in longer than I normally do. It makes me feel lazy

This limits my ability to be as industrious as I want to be plus, when my kids are here, I’m not spending as the quality of time with them as I can. I am not influencing them as good as I can. Now, certainly, you can do good things despite drinking.

But, it takes away from your energy. So, a motivation to quit drinking is also to be more industrious. It’s also to be healthier. I know that energy from eating healthy and working out is a huge motivator. When I get to that point, that point when you can feel lighter, everything feels so good. That’s where I want to get. When I get to that point, I will know that I don’t want to go back. I

Burning Bridges

So, as a reminder, I'm watching Vlogs because I want to do one. Or, at least I'm thinking of it. So, that's how I met Kevin O'Hara. He talks about quitting drinking. After listening for a while, I thought, "What would it be like to quit for 2 months." I decided to give it a try. 

Okay, so, in today’s video, Kevin talks about burning bridges. You want to go forward. You don’t want to go back. So, the best way to do that is to burn the bridges. He said the best example used in counseling circles is Cortez. He landed in Mexico in 1517. He landed with his flotilla of ships. 

He didn’t want his crew to have any motivation to go back. So, he ordered them to burn all his ships. So, they couldn’t go back even if they wanted to. Well, they could build another ship. But, Cortez knew that wasn’t going to happen. It took years back then to build ships.

So, in that same sense, if you want to quit drinking, you have to burn the bridge. A good way of doing that is to dump out any alcohol left in your house. That way, every time you think about buying alcohol, you will have that vision in your head. You took the effort to waste $20 worth of alcohol. So, that’s a symbol of what you don’t want to go back to.

“Move forward. Conquer the land. Get on with it.” He said. There is no way to retreat. There is no way to go backward. This is how you move forward on the path you want. This is how you quit any bad habit. This is how you make yourself better. “Burn your bridges.”

Planning Ahead

I started listening to video blogs. I did this because I wanted to make some of my own. I want to make videos for my work. So, the best way to motivate yourself is to watch how others do it. So, this is how I met the guy from Alcohol Mastery. I can’t think of his name extemporaneously. Oh, I know, it's Kevin O'Hara.

But, I started listening to many of his videos. They are meant for alcoholics. Actually, he doesn’t like the term alcoholic. He says that makes it look like a disease. And, he says, it’s not a disease. It’s a bad habit. You choose to put the alcohol to your lips. You choose to do this over and over and over until you get drunk. Well, that’s usually the goal.

So, I thought it would be neat to follow his plan. That wasn’t the intent, but his videos were so inspiring, I thought I would try them out. I don't necessarily want to quit forever. But, who knows. Maybe I'll enjoy being sober every day so much I'll keep doing it. But, for now, the goal is 2 months. 

So, today, August 1, I set as my start date. I set my start date for September 7.

Today’s video was pretty neat. It was called “How to make the decision to quit drinking alcohol stick.” It was a fitting video for day #1. I didn’t plan on listening to it today. It just popped up in my feed. And I did listen to it before. In the Video, he says you have to pick a motivation. Why is it that you want to quit drinking. What is it that will motivate you more than anything else.

What is the one thing that will motivate you in the direction you want to go? You must look forward. You must look forward toward what you are moving into. You don’t have to sacrifice the present for the future. No guarantee you will get tomorrow. But, you have to live your life like there is tomorrow. This is one way to get yourself to quit drinking.

Look into the future and see who you want to become. If you want to alter your own destiny, you can. Your past decisions made you who you are today. Those decisions plus the ones you make today will make you who you will be in some future point. That’s how he explained it.

You have to push yourself forward into something that you think is worthwhile. You’ve got to build a love for the things you are replacing alcohol with. What do you want to replace it with? When you eat junk food, when is it? When you drink alcohol, when is it?

You must find something else to do during those weak moments. I think it was Dr. Phil who talked about that once. You must plan ahead. You must decide what you are going to do instead of drinking alcohol, or whatever you want to quit.

I tried this last week. I know I usually drink after working my three day weekend. I work all day Sunday. It’s a 12-hour shift. I always work 12-hour shifts. When I’m done I’m exhausted. Drinking a cold beer sounds so good. I go to the store. I buy beer. I drink one. But, you can’t drink just one. So you crack open a second and a third. You know how it goes from there. Then all of a sudden you’re waking up the next day knowing you drank too much.

So, instead of doing that, I planned on going to a movie after work. I texted Callie if she wanted to go with me. We had a great time. She was very happy. She told me that. And it made me happy. So, I learned that day that my children can be a great motivator without them even knowing it. I could have stayed home by myself and got drunk. But, instead, I made a huge impact on my daughter.

So, I think, my children are a great motivator for me. I spend more time already than 99% of dads do with their kids. But, I can do even better. I can spend even more time. But, to do that, I have to quit drinking. So, here we go.

Pleasure And Pain

So, I listened to a Tony Robins youtube video. It was called, “Pleasure And Pain.” Those are the two driving forces in life, he said.

Most of us don’t do things to avoid pain. We say, “If I do that it might produce pain.” We need to reverse that. We need to think the opposite. We need to ask, “What will be the pain if I DON’T do it?

Below I am going to write down 4 actions I need to do but keep putting off. Write down something that will cause pain when you do it, and write down the pleasure you get from not doing it.; write down the opposite, write what will happen if you don’t change.

Pain is a greater motivator than pleasure. Food gives you pleasure. But, focus on the pain you will get by eating the chocolate. Focus on the pleasure you will get by not eating that chocolate. Then behavior changes.

IF you want to change your behavior, you must change your mental focus. You must focus on how not doing something is going to be more painful than doing it. Link not taking action as more painful than just doing it.

Use pain and pleasure rather than letting pain and pleasure use you. That’s the secret to success. You do that and you are in control of your life. If you don’t do it your life controls you. So you need to make that change

Write down 4 actions that you need to do that you’ve been putting off. I’m only putting 3 here. I do have a 4th, but I don’t want to share it. Here goes.

I want to quit drinking for 2 months. 

• The pain I associate that kept me from quitting in the past is the urge to drink 
• The pleasure from not following through is the joy of good buzz; it’s relaxation
• If I don’t change I lack energy the next day; I lack the motivation to diet

I want to lose weight. More specifically, I want to lose 50 pounds.

• The pain I associate that kept me from quitting in the past is hunger
• The pleasure from not following through is the joy of eating good food
• If I don’t change I feel fat and lazy; I feel like a slug

I want to work out every day.

• The pain I associate that kept me from sticking with it in the past is taking time
• The pleasure from not following through is more time relaxing
• If I don't’ change I feel like a slug and lack energy

I'm giving myself a start date. It's September 7. I know it's Friday. I will explain why I'm starting on a Friday in a later post. But, I'm just writing this here in case anyone is interested in doing this with me. 

Donald Trump: The Statistics

Here are the Trump statistics. In four years we'll analyze than to determine how good he did as the 45th President of the United States.

• December 2016: Since Trump was elected, consumer confidence jumped to 113.7, it's the highest level since 2001. This is a signal of how confident consumers are that Trump will fix the economy. 
• December 2016: The Dow, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have all risen around 4% to 5% since the election. This has aptly been termed the Trump bump. The rally in U.S. shares continued as investors see Trump’s economic policies— tax reform, regulatory reform, and stimulus spending—as particularly good for business. This prompted Trump to tweet on December 27: "The world was gloomy before I won - there was no hope. Now the market is up nearly 10% and Christmas spending is over a trillion dollars!"
• March 9, 2017.  Illegal border crossings decline 40% in Trumps first month in office. This is what happens when you actually enforce the laws already on the books. 
• March 10, 2017: 152,528,000: Record Number of Employed in February; Participation Rate Rises
• March 10, 2017: Amazing: US Debt Decreased by More Than $60 Billion Since Trump Inauguration
• January 7, 2018: The black unemployment rate is under 7% for the first time ever. Tracking began in 1972, so it's the lowest black unemployment rate in recorded history. And it was not even mentioned by the media. This is a huge accomplishment in less than a year for Donald Trump, and not one mention of it in the media. 
• January 10, 2018: As of today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and Nasdaq have had 75 record closes since Trump was elected. 
• January 11, 2018: Voters perception of the economy at a record high. The Quinnipiac University poll showed 66% said the economy was excellent. This was the highest percentage since the poll began in 2001. 
• January 11, 2018: Illegal immigration hits 45-year low under Trump.
• January 18, 2018, Jobless claims lowest since 1973
• January 18, 2018, Unemployment is 4.2%, lowest since 2001. It's poised to go even lower
• January 19, 2018: Stock market 31% gain during Trump -- best since FDR; value grows by $6.9 trillion
• June 3, 2018: Unemployment reaches 18 year low of 3.8%. Statistically, this is considered full employment. 4% is usually considered full employment. When you get that low, that 4% is considered to be the number of people who choose not to work. Or, this is is the percentage of people no one wants to hire. So, basically, we have full employment. 
• June 3, 2018: The U.S. added 223,000 jobs in may. This is despite the prediction being 188,000 jobs for may. 
• June 3, 2018: Manufacturers added 
• In May, 6,000 new mining jobs, 18,000 new manufacturing jobs, 31,000 new retail jobs, and 25,000 new construction jobs. As a bonus, there are 24,000 fewer government jobs. 
• June 3, 2018:  Black unemployment has hit another record low. It’s at 5.9%. This is awesome! It's the first time ever black unemployment is under 6%. 
• The unemployment rate for men over 16 is 3.9%. It’s 3.6% for women. (All of this good economic news comes after Obama said our best days are behind us. 
• Unlike the jobs added under the Obama economy, a vast majority of the jobs added in the last year and a half (as of June 2018) are full-time jobs.
• Wages are also going up. 
• Korean War is over. The leaders of North and South Korea shake hands.
• June 20, 2018: Social Security Disability Benefit applications plunge as economy strengthens. This is a startling reversal of a decades old trend that threatened the solvency of the program. The decline is so significant that experts re figured their estimates on how long the program will remain solvent. They say it should now last until 2032. Two years ago it was estimated to run out of funds by 2023.
• 95% of manufacturers bullish on future -- record optimism
• Record 155,576,000 Employed in June; 10th Record for Trump
• August 31, 2018: Jobless claims lowest since 1969
• August 31, 2018: Oil exports booming
• August 31, 2018: 83% of executives say business better; 76% say they see more growth ahead. 
• Unemployment Lowest Since 1969

The funny thing is I started writing this on Trump's first day on March 10, 2017. Even back then I knew the economy was going to improve. I knew if capitalism were tried what would happen. 

Myth: Trump Setting U.S. Up For Trade War

Democrats, the media, and liberals around the world. They keep talking about how Trump is going to incite a trade war if he continues to raise tariffs. But, it's hard for Trump to start a trade war when it started over 30 years ago.

So, Trump raises the steel tariff to 30%. Democrats see this as the beginning and the end. They are afraid other countries will get upset and raise tariffs for outgoing products.

But, this is said without looking at our history. You name your country. That country has a 30% tariff to our steel going into their country. We have only a 2.5% tariff on imported steel. That 2.5% is usually not paid.

So, who benefits from this set-up. It's certainly not the U.S. So, Trump raising the tariff to 30% is only playing a game. It's making it so there is an equal tariff both ways. It gives U.S. steelmakers an equal opportunity to sell steel abroad.

Plus, what can it hurt? If those other country's don't want high tariffs, they can easily call Trump. They can make a deal. That deal can call for a reduction of tariffs on both sides. Perhaps steel tariffs can be reduced to 10% both ways. That would be fair.

So, this idea that Trump is setting the U.S. up for a trade war is poppycock. It has been going on for a long time.