Siobhan O'Connor: I gave up alcohol two years ago and since quitting I see life in technicolour

Willpower doesn’t work when it comes to habit change.

The famous social psychologist Roy Baumeister said: “Willpower seemed to be like a muscle that could be fatigued through use”.

I’m in training to become an alcohol-free performance coach with master trainer Andy Ramage.

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I will be qualified in December to help anyone who wants to change their relationship with booze.

Andy was a former England footballer, forced to quit the game through injury, worked in an oil brokerage, got sick and tired of life revolving around booze and wrote the book: The 28 Day Alcohol Free challenge.

Andy, a master coach, now runs AreteWay, the Andy Ramage Training Institute.

He left alcohol in the shadows ten years ago, sick of drinking to appease clients.

Ever since, he’s on a mission to show people a different way.

I examined my own bond with vino over two years ago and since quitting I see life in technicolour.

I’m no longer trapped in a black-and-white telly.

Socrates famously said: “An unexamined life is not worth living”.

Undertaking a diploma in this niche area has opened my eyes up to a whole new reality.

Middlelane drinkers sick of devoting their weekends to wine o’clock are everywhere.

My goal is to help them examine their relationship with booze to affect change.

I had to examine my life and figure out why I was overdoing the vino and finally let it go.

The coaching we learn under Andy’s tutelage is grounded in positive psychology.

I’m on a mission to help others stuck in the wine trap to escape.

I’ve done pro-bono coaching for various coachees as I journey through the course.

It’s incredible how giving someone space to open up is so powerful.

Coaching is not therapy rather it's a solution-focused approach for moving forward to achieve your goals.

During the motivational coaching sessions, we learn how the power comes from within the coachee to change whatever behaviour, such as drinking alcohol they want to change.

Andy’s course is full of inspirational quotes from leaders in the field.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” said author and educator Stephen Covey.

Drew Barrymore first entered rehab aged 13, her path to quitting booze was not linear.

Stars like Drew are incredible opening up on their rehab journeys, but say if you just want to get off the weekend booze train?

Imagine if you know deep down something is wrong with the way you think about alcohol, it’s not affecting your life yet, but you want a change?

For middle drinkers alcohol-free performance coaching is a game changer.

The ambivalent seesaw is a tool Andy created for people to really analyse how alcohol fits into our lives and how we can reframe it and reduce its pull.

On one side of the seesaw, you jot down perceived benefits on the other your perceived negatives, then your consequences for drinking and then other ways to achieve that reward instead of drinking.

You’d be surprised how many of the perceived benefits, like how alcohol makes you relax and destress actually has the opposite effect on the other side of the seesaw the next day.

A likely consequence is that alcohol in fact makes you more anxious and stressed the following morning.

Thus this reduces the power of the perceived benefits.

Coaching is all about listening and Andy’s mantra is to “drill the skill” of listening.

Tools like the life force manifesto whereby you see yourself as an older person in your final hours is powerful.

What words of wisdom would you give your great-grandchild as you reach the end?

After you jot these down, you have all you need in front of you to live the life of your dreams.

You are in effect giving yourself the advice and becoming self-aware in the process.

“It’s not events that shape your life but your beliefs about them.” Epictetus

We can all achieve our goals one coaching session at a time, by breaking down limiting beliefs and discovering our true values.

For info see @reelmammy and @andyramageofficial