Nutshell

Since I have added a lot of new people to my facebook and have new blog readers, I figured a short recap was appropriate.  I post a lot about powerlifting, strongman, my past life as a crossfitter, and my life as an alcoholic.  I am very open and honest about my addiction issues, and do not want to scare or suprise anyone by those particular blogs.  It was a large part of my life that I still battle with and I know there are quite a few people that only know me as a strongman or powerlifting competitor.  So, here in a nutshell is...well, me!

1980's: introduced to alcohol in grade school; a few drinks on the weekends quickly turned into daily consumption and getting obliterated on the weekends; I chose alcohol to "deal with" family issues, imperfections, and cover up feelings and emotions.

1990's: I was drinking bottles of vodka at a time...and not the airplane size bottles.  It was in the late '90's that I switched to beer, or should say added beer.  But at this point in my life, I did start taking my athletic career a little more serious and took breaks from drinking during basketball season and during the summer months that I worked for the Girl Scouts.

2000's: My drinking got worse as I began my coaching career and experienced several failed relatioships, as well as dealing with increasingly difficult family issues.  I found CrossFit in 2008, and with that I also found of bunch of partiers.  I would workout drunk or with a good buzz more times than not.  And weekends were one long party in which I didn't begin to sober up until monday afternoon.

2011:  I began having health issues because of my excessive drinking, but ignored it and kept going with my professional drinking career.  By this time, my drinking included a minimum of thirty beers a day and either vodka or rum.  I could kill a large bottle of either in a day easy, and still drink beer.  In October, I started to hit bottom with my drinking.  My body was literally rejecting alcohol, but still I continued.  I started drinking almost 24 hours a day in order to keep a buzz.  I quit Crossfit completely and in three years went from a 160lb athlete to a 215lb sloth.

2012:  I woke up one morning in March and said "I'm done".  I quit cold turkey.  I also began counseling to deal with the 20+ years of drinking cover-ups.  I started lifting again in late summer and found a great trainer in October.  My first powerlifting meet was in December and my first strongman comp in March 2013.

And as they say, the rest is history.  I am back to being a 155lb athlete, and a much happier sober person...just living life one day at a time!