Our guest today is Andy Ramage, a former soccer player and city broker and the co-founder of One Year No Beer. In this episode, we talk about the global community of One Year No Beer, how giving up alcohol was central to Andy’s personal transformational journey, and how he found his calling. This episode is for you if you would like to improve your performance & wellbeing and would like to bring more meaning into your life.
The Beginning
“I realized that I wasn't all of the voices in my head.”
Andy started his career as a professional soccer player, but had to give up his dream because of injury. He subsequently became a successful City broker and started to million dollar brokerages. In his mid thirties, his life looked like a success on the outside (the business success, the house, the family, the money), yet he was overweight, had some health problems and experienced a lack of meaning.
Andy started searching for something more as he had the intuition that there had to be more to life than what he was experiencing. He reaad a lot and started practicing mindfulness, which was quite transformative for him.
Andy’s Mission
“I had to retrain myself to be social again without alcohol. Which took some time but once you got there, you are unstoppable.”
Working in the City, it was really normal to entertain clients with alcohol and to drink on a regular basis.
At some point Andy realized that drinking was the last piece of the puzzle that he needed to change as whenever he drank, this interfered with his mindfulness practice, his sleep, his mental wellbeing, his exercise routine and his performance.
He was looking for support groups, but couldn’t find anything that spoke to him as he was not what was classically considered an addict. Like many people he was what is considered a middle lane drinker, who sometimes drinks moderately, sometimes heavily and sometimes not at all. As he stopped drinking, his life and health improved significantly. He subsequently created a challenge to stop drinking for 28 days with another city broker.
The challenge became very successful and turned into a powerful global community and movement, which has benefitted hundreds of thousands of people.
The Benefits Of Giving Up Alcohol
“I think being tactical with breaks from alcohol can be brilliant for people.”
Andy talks about the effects of stopping alcohol consumption. He shares scientific research on physiological markers that show a massive improvement, and there are subjective markers that are nuanced to the individual, but generally positive.
Andy’s advice is to start small and do a 28-day challenge first. Once people experience the many benefits of not drinking and how to not give in to the social pressure, it is easier to stay motivated and keep going. This doesn’t mean they can never drink again, but many choose not to as it no longer makes sense to them as they realise that they feel much better without drinking.
Palma’s Reflection On Working With Addictive Behaviours
Maybe you feel inspired after this conversation to take part in the challenge and give up alcohol. As Andy said, it's not just about giving up something but rather looking at what it is that you will gain by giving it a try.
Dr. Judson Brewer from Brown University has an interesting approach to help people with giving up smoking or overeating. Instead of telling them to give up these habits, he encourages them to smoke or eat, but do it mindfully, by bringing curiosity to the taste and experience.
So if you’d like to give this practice a try, then when you’re smoking, eating, or drinking, bring your full attention and curiosity to the experience of doing it and just see how much you are actually enjoying it.
About Our Guest, Andy Ramage
Andy Ramage is the founder of the Arete Group, which is a group of businesses designed to help people to find their excellence, co-founder of the One Year No Beer, and author.
Andy is a former professional athlete, who after injury co-created two multimillion-dollar oil futures brokerages. In an attempt to boost performance Andy took a proactive break from alcohol, which transformed his business, health, and relationships. Inspired, he co-founded a movement called, OneYearNoBeer.Com, which has helped over 100,000 people transform their relationship with alcohol.
More recently Andy has created various initiatives to help people reach their full potential, including the AreteWay: A 6-week online LIVE adventure to your best-self and Arete Coach, which is a coach training accreditation with the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
Andy also has a master’s degree in Coaching Psychology and Positive Psychology and is planning his Ph.D. for October 2021.
Andy is also LIVE every day on Instagram and Facebook @andyramageofficial.
To learn more about Andy visit www.andyramage.com where you can join his newsletter to receive weekly exclusive mini-workshops and videos.
A special thanks to Andy Ramage for taking the time to share his inspiring story with us.
Continue Your Journey
Now it is time to find your own unique path. We can help you to connect with your innate wisdom and create an inspiring vision for a deeply fulfilling and meaningful life. Apply for a discovery session on our website,palmamichel.com.
Learn to meditate with Palma on the MUSE brain-sensing device and receive a 15% discount (will be shown at checkout only) with this link!
Thank You
Thank you for joining us on this journey of the Explorer’s Mind Podcast.
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Until next time, We truly appreciate you listening and look forward to continuing this journey together.