Yesterday marked 100 days for me of no alcohol.

I am a father of two daughters, a significant other, a brother, a son, a strength coach, a business owner. Someone who is always searching for a way to balance it all like so many of us are. It's a tough thing to recognize sometimes what we are choosing to use to relax, decompress or escape with. What we are choosing to do to bypass or avoid the real issues. For me, it was drinking.

Had a friend tell me one time a while back, "A lot of things in life aren't a problem...until they are." This is how it went for me. Long day or stressful situation, grab a drink and relax. Football game on TV, grab a drink and enjoy it. Brain going 1,000 mph from all the things you need to get done, grab a drink to slow it all down. And so on.

I started paying attention to this. I didn't like all the things I unknowingly correlated with drinking. It's the weekend, going to a tailgate, sitting around a fire pit, going to the lake, going to the pool, sporting events...these were all things where it seemed like not drinking wasn't even an option. It's just what you do, right?

Guess what? During these 100 days I experienced all of these things without drinking...and had a blast.

I have found that it's not always about stopping or quitting something indefinitely, it's about taking the time to look at the relationship we have with it. I began to realize that alcohol, food, social media, binge-watching, smoking, exercise or lack thereof and so many other things that could be listed are not the problem....they are what we have chosen as our solution to the real problem. They are the smoke, but what is the fire that created it?

No matter what we show on the outside, we all struggle with something on the inside. As a man and a father, I have always felt like no matter what, I have to be the one to keep it all together. Everyone else can have breakdowns, but not me. I have to be strong and just deal with it so I can help everyone else. This only led to me searching for a solution to my struggles and it wasn't one that would ultimately fix or help anything.

The fact that it was alcohol made it a much more difficult thing to ask for help in cutting back. There is a stigma in our culture with alcohol. We can ask for help quitting smoking, with our nutrition, with exercise and it is typically meet with no judgement, but understanding and encouragement. With alcohol, it is almost this immediate condemning thought in people's minds of, 'You can't cut back on your own? You have a problem...you must be an alcoholic.'

Why is alcohol different in that way? In short, it isn't. It's a solution we have chose to deal with things and just like we chose to make it the solution, we can choose to change that.

My mindset and relationship with drinking have completely changed. When I think of events, the weekend or any other experiences I am looking forward to or planning I only think about just that...the event, weekend and experience itself, not whether or not alcohol will be involved.

Will I go back to having some drinks? Honestly, I don't know. But here is what I do know. I'm not an alcoholic. I don't need alcohol for anything or to do anything. I just made poor choices on what my solution to my struggles should be.

Change, more often than not, requires help and support from others. I chose a men's plan called I AM A COMEBACK. I asked for help which isn't an easy thing for me...and it worked. I told my people around me what I was working through which was also very hard...and it worked.

"Burn the ships." That's what my shirt says in the picture. It means, there is no plan B, no going back. Facing the fight in front of us is the only option. What fight do you need to face...and what people do you need around you to do so?

If you feel like you will be judged for whatever it is you are struggling with, know that there are people out there that won't. I'm here, I'm ready to listen. Just one phone call, message, email, text or conversation away.