Get inspired by this TV host who quit alcohol, beat anxiety, lost 200 pounds
If you want an example of the life-changing magic of quitting alcohol, look no further than Aussie TV presenter Chrissie Swan.
I came across Swan’s story this week after she announced she was more than 600 days sober and was I so impressed by her total life transformation.
After she posted a couple of pictures on Instagram with friends holding wine glasses, Swan sent out a message to people who where evidently worried she’d returned to her old ways.
“Seem to be getting a lot of messages checking in on whether or not I’ve taken up the booze again. I haven’t! 643 days since my last tipple! Thanks for askin’!” she wrote on her Instagram account.
Swan fell into the same trap that a lot of people did — myself included — during COVID lockdowns.
With an unprecedented modern pandemic sweeping the globe and with all positive outlets completely shut down, we started to lean heavily on alcohol to deal with the associated anxiety and depression.
I’ve recently written about how Gwyneth Paltrow and Macklemore faltered during COVID, and I’ve touched on my own struggles during lockdowns numerous times as well.
That was a bad time for a lot of us, to say the least.
Crushed by COVID
Swan’s transformation began when she acknowledged she was hitting the bottle too hard during lockdowns as well.
“It was a decision I made for myself after giving it a fair nudge in the first lockdown last year,” the Daily Mail quotes her as saying when she began her sobriety journey.
“I do recommend it. If you’re thinking, ‘oh, maybe I’m drinking a bit much’ or ‘it’s not helping me any more’, I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve taken from it, is that it didn’t help.”
My greatest stressor during COVID lockdowns centred on what it was doing to my kids. They lost their friends, they lost the sport they loved, and remote learning was a complete joke.
My wife and I also worked full time from home, which added a layer of pressure and sadness to the whole experience.
I felt like I was trying to be a great parent and great employee, and I was failing at both.
That appears to be Swan’s experience as well.
“With the pressures and anxieties and worries and being responsible for kids and their whole life has changed and you’re their parent, you feel enormous guilt, though it’s all out of your control, you kind of feel like having a few drinks will take the edge off.
“And a couple of drinks does, but eventually it’s at the stage where it doesn’t help and it certainly wasn’t helping me,” she said.
When you drink to bury anxiety and depression, the bill eventually comes due— with interest.
A total transformation
The Daily Mail article quotes Swan as saying that her anxiety was “through the roof”, which contributed to insomnia.
After she quit, however: “I really noticed a huge difference in my day-to-day positivity and ability to deal with the pandemic and the ongoing changes to literally every part of our lives if I’m clear-minded, and for me it’s been fantastic, a fantastic choice.”
She also started meditating and going on 10 kilometre walks every day to support her physical and mental health.
With booze out of her system and a healthier lifestyle taking over, she completely tranformed her body (to the tune of losing nearly 200 pounds) and mind.
Congratulations to Chrissie!
Thank you for reading this post all the way to the end — I hope it inspired you on your own sobriety journey!
If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to give it a clap (or a few) so others can find it!
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