Ever used drinking to cope with grief and felt like it wasn’t even a conscious choice but rather a reflex? Jonathan knows that feeling exactly. He'd been living alcohol-free for two and a half years when he lost his father-in-law and then his dad, just months apart, during the pandemic. On the drive home from the funeral, he stopped at a Mexican restaurant and ordered a margarita. He thought he'd have one and go back to his life. Instead, the door that had been closed swung open, and the whole cycle started over. This conversation with Coach Cole is about grief, identity, and what it really takes to find your way back to yourself.
Jonathan and Coach Cole discuss:
How a scuba trip at sixteen taught Jonathan that alcohol was the price of admission for real connection, and how that belief quietly ran the show for twenty-five years
Building his identity around being the life of the party through the service industry years, and the first time he realized he had no off switch
Spending an entire Renaissance Festival doing alcohol math in his head, calculating drinks instead of making memories with his wife
The fight, the blackout, and the tearful run in the rain that brought him to the This Naked Mind audiobook
How reading This Naked Mind produced what felt like an overnight shift, and the anger he felt at never having been told what alcohol actually was
Going two and a half years alcohol-free during the pandemic, then losing his father-in-law and his dad within months of each other
The single margarita at a Mexican restaurant that cracked the door back open, and how the whole cycle restarted without a single conscious choice
Going through the TNM Institute as his own first client, uncovering twenty-five years of people-pleasing, and finally stepping into who he actually is
And more on IFS parts work, somatic experiencing, rebuilding self-trust, and what it means to show up in your own truth...
Episode Links:
Start your journey at nakedmindpath.com
https://www.thisnakedmindinstitute.com/tnmi-home
Related Episodes:
How Do I Deal With Death and Grief Without Alcohol | Reader Question | EP 262 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-262-reader-question-grief-without-alcohol/
How Quitting Drinking Saved My Life | Kay B.’s Naked Life | EP 717 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-717-naked-life-story-kay-b/
Alcohol and Grief | Coaching Questions with Pam McRae | EP 382 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-382-coaching-questions-with-scott-pinyard/
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