Stop comparing yourself to others...

[00:00:20]Hey guys, it is June the 23rd, 2026, and I hope everybody's been having a wonderful day so far today. I hope everybody had a great weekend this past weekend and I hope everybody stayed sober as well. Guys, I'm sorry I missed again yesterday. I I know I've missed quite a few vid uh days here recently or videos. Um but it was a long day yesterday. I was so tired by the end of the day and after everything was said and done. I know I talked about it in Saturday's live. I can't remember if I talked about it in Sunday's video or not, but I had a doctor's appointment with my interventional radiologist yesterday and we had to go down to Charleston for it. Um, and then, uh, tomorrow I have CAT scans and blood work getting done. Uh, I've got a bunch of appointments coming up. There's all kinds of stuff going on. Um, but anyway, uh, you know, like I said, I was just really tired yesterday after all that was done and I just wanted to go to sleep. It wouldn't have been a good video if id filmed yesterday anyway with the way I was feeling. But guys, I'm sorry. I know I promised to be here every single day. There's just some days where I really just don't have it in me to do it. And yesterday was one of those days. But anyway, I'm back here today and um you know, like I said, I went to the doctor yesterday. I had to go see my interventional radiologist. The problem was is that I didn't have my CAT scans done or my blood work for him to look at, you know, so all he really had was just me. And uh, you know, they really kind of need some numbers to look at to really, you know, know what's going on with you. Um, and I didn't have blood work or a CAT scan for them to look at. So, uh, CAT scan blood work is tomorrow and then I have a another doctor's appointment with him next week and we're going to be doing a video call so that we can go over my lab results and go over the CAT scan results and, you know, see where we're going to go from here. Um, like I said, there really wasn't a whole lot to talk about yesterday because I didn't have any, uh, you know, labs or the CAT scan for him to see. Um, but we are going to be talking next week, like I said, um, doing a video chat and going over all the results of the test that we had. So, I'm really nervous. Um, you know, I think everything's going okay right now, but you just never know. Um, there have been times where I felt fine and the next thing you know, my labs came back and they were completely out of whack and the next thing you know, they're telling me I need to go to the ER. Uh, so like I said, there's just no telling. Hopefully everything's fine and there is there isn't any big deal. Um I know my interventional radiologist is not keen on doing any kind of procedures unless he absolutely has to. Uh the last time that they went in and cleaned my portal vein out again because I've got a tips placed in there for any of you guys that are new here to the channel and don't know uh my story. Um back in 2022 I got sick and then you I got sick a couple more times, whatever. And then they found out what one of the things that was going on with me is that I had a total blockage in my portal vein. Um, so they discussed placing a tips with me and then we ended up going in and doing the tips procedure which was a failure.

[00:03:30]Uh, they were able to cut the blood supply off to half of my spleen.

[00:03:35]But at the same time, like I said, the tips failed. Um, and they told me at that that in that moment that they weren't going to be able to do it again.

[00:03:43]That was it. you know, I'm basically just so at this point. You know, you're just going to have to live your life and and you know, hope and pray that everything goes okay. But about 6 months later, I got a phone call from my my other interventional radiologist, the one before this one right now. Um, and he told me he wanted me to come down to Charleston. And I went down there and he said, "I want to try to do the tips again." And I was just blown away that he was saying that. And he said that I'm leaving the hospital. I'm actually gone from the hospital right now. I'm I'm on vacation time and one of the reasons I'm still here is because I wanted to try to give you another shot to give you, you know, you and your family, you know, longer time with each other. And um I told him I just needed a little bit of time to think about it. I called him back and said, "We're going to do it."

[00:04:29]And like two weeks later, I was down there having, you know, I I was I couldn't stay awake.

[00:04:57]I was throwing up. up. I just felt really, really bad. And they went in there, cleaned it out. I started feeling better. I stayed in the hospital for like a week and a half, somewhere around there, maybe two weeks that time. And uh I thought, you know what? All right.

[00:05:08]They cleaned it back out. Everything's going to be okay. Like a month later, I started feeling bad again. Went back down there. They did a CAT scan. There was a full occlusion in my tips again.

[00:05:18]Well, they cleared it out, like I said, I think three times. And then my interventional radiologist told me the last time cuz I I showed up at the ER knowing that I had a blockage again. I could just tell. And when I went in, they did a CAT scan. Sure enough, had a full blockage. But then they told me, "We're sorry, but we're just not going to do anything else. We're not going to clean it out again. You know, the the risk is not worth it." He talked about the capillaries that had grown around it and all that kind of stuff. So, where I sit now, I still have a full blockage in my tips. Uh, so I have a stent in my portal vein that's there for, you know, it's just there. It's totally blocked off, which, you know, it is what it is.

[00:06:01]It did give my body the chance to grow capillaries on the outside of my portal vein for there to be blood flow. But I still deal with a lot of issues because of it. I have a lot of stomach pain due to the uh the blockage in my portal vein because anytime that I eat um the blood, you know, you blood enters your stomach when you eat and then it leaves after and the blood just can't leave my stomach fast enough which causes me stomach pain. Um and there's a whole bunch of other stuff that's going on with that. But it's one of the reasons I have to keep going back to my interventional radiologist is because of that block tips and you know they're just keeping a really close eye on it to make sure that there's no issues. Um so anyway, that's the whole reasoning behind it for any of you guys that are new here. Um but like I said yesterday when I went uh I didn't have any labs. I didn't have the CAT scan. So it's really just conversation and we we have to wait until next week until after the labs and the CAT scan come back. We're going to be doing a video uh call and going over all that stuff. So hopefully, fingers crossed, everything's going to be okay.

[00:07:09]No big deal. Um and we'll just, you know, 6 months down the road, I'll go back and see him again. Hopefully that's the case. You know, I I'm I'm not going to, you know, bet either way because anytime I do, I always end up getting the opposite of what I'm looking for.

[00:07:26]Um, so I'm just going to hang in there and just, you know, hope that everything's all right. But, you know, it is what it is either way. So, that's that's it, you know, in a nutshell. Uh, I spoke to my doctor, but once again, there really wasn't anything for us to to look at. Um, there weren't any like real test results there for him. And the reason being is because my insurance company of course and this is one of the things about you know getting sick uh because of your drinking guys. It is it is such a pain dealing with the insurance companies. Um you know I had CAT scan uh and blood work scheduled and then next thing you know this was like 2 weeks ago. Next thing you know, I get a phone call from the insurance company telling me that my uh my scan was not approved yet because I had already had a scan. And I'm like, "No, I did not." And they were like, "You know, they're arguing with me. Yes, you did. You just had a scan a month ago." And I told them, "Uh, no, I didn't." Well, either way, they cancelled my scan because the insurance company didn't approve it. So, and when I'm going to have my scan done, I'm doing the blood work at the same time at the same hospital because if I have it done anywhere else, it gets lost. I just had that done recently.

[00:08:41]They couldn't find everything. So, I need to have my blood work done at MUSC and the CAT scan done at MUSC so it's all in their system. Um, and that way the doctor has easy access to it and it doesn't get lost and you know, yada yada yada. But my insurance company denied getting the CAT scan done, so they pushed it back. But I am having it done tomorrow. It finally got approved.

[00:09:06]Everything got worked out. So I'm going to have the CAT scan, blood work done tomorrow. And then next week, I think it's Monday or Tuesday. One or Wednesday, one, one of those days, I have a video call with my interventional radiologist. And like I said, we're going to go over all my labs and my CAT scan and see how everything's looking.

[00:09:24]And like I said, fingers crossed.

[00:09:26]Hopefully there's nothing wrong and I can just go on about my business and wait 6 months till I see him again. But we shall see. But anyway, now I've carried on for 9 minutes talking about myself. What I wanted to talk about today is, you know, stop comparing yourself to others. And there's a couple reasons I want to talk about this today. But I know for myself, I used to do this all the time. And I think it's, you know, comparing oursel to other people is just it's it's it doesn't allow us to move forward when we're doing that. And, you know, I'm and when I say stop comparing yourself to others, you know, I mean a lot of different things. Um, I'm only going to talk about a couple of them today, but I just think it's really important, you know, to when you start noticing that you're doing so, uh, to stop yourself and, uh, you know, being aware in the moment. It's one of those things I talk about all the time, you know, protecting our sobriety. Uh being present in the moment, um noticing when your your thought patterns start to go in places that you don't want it to go, like comparing yourself to other people. When you start to notice that you're doing something like that, like you're comparing yourself to someone, uh you know, noticing that you're doing so and doing something about it and not allowing your mind to keep doing this because it can take us down some really negative places. But anyway, let's go ahead and dive into today's video. And like I said, today I want to talk about stop comparing yourself to others. Um, I know for myself, I compared myself to others my whole entire life, and I still do it to this day. Now, a lot less than back then, but I still do it to this day. And when I was thinking about today's video and writing the notes down for the video and all that stuff, I really started thinking about um, you know, about just about that about comparing myself to other people. I had a bunch of yard work that I had to get done today. I've been out on the lawn mower and weed eating and all that kind of stuff. So, number one, if I keep clearing my throat and my voice sounds kind of horse, it's just because of that. Um, but while I was out there cutting my grass and everything today, I was thinking about this, you know, about about how much I used to compare myself to other people back in the day because I was trying to think about today's video. And as I sat there and really started thinking about this and, you know, rolling it around in my head, I think that that was one of the biggest reasons that I drank the way that I did.

[00:11:50]Um, because I compared myself to everyone.

[00:11:54]And when I compared myself to other women, you know, I wanted to talk about drinking today. Comparing yourself to other people, you know, the amount of alcohol or the frequency that we're drinking, the way that we're drinking. I wanted to talk about that. But I still also um want to talk about just comparing ourselves to other people in general. You know, comparing yourself to your nextdoor neighbor. Um I think this is one of the biggest reasons I drank the way that I did. And I'm not joking.

[00:12:20]You know, it's it's it's always keeping up with the Joneses, guys. Um you know, you look at your next door neighbor, they got a brand new car and you're driving a 1995 and you're like, "Well, why do they have a new car and I don't?"

[00:12:32]and you start to beat yourself up and tell yourself, well, maybe they're better than me or, you know, maybe I I, you know, I'm I'm not doing as well in life as I thought that I should have been at this point or whatever. And you can start to bring yourself down when you're comparing yourself to other people. And like I said, I know I used to do this to myself all the time back in the day. It wasn't just alcohol. It was everything. um you know if I bumped into somebody that I hadn't seen since high school and you know I ran into them at Walmart and you know hey how you been doing I haven't seen you in the past 20 years and yada yada yada and we're talking and next thing you know they're telling me oh yeah um you know I went to college and I got my uh master's degree in engineering and all this kind of stuff and I'm sitting here thinking to myself I didn't even finish college um you know I worked in the restaurant industry my whole entire life and I was starting to beat myself up and starting to feel like less than um and definitely less than that other individual because for whatever reason I'm sitting there thinking to myself, you know, well, they went to college and they did all these great things and, you know, they're they're better than I am. You know, they've accomplished more than I have. They've done more than I have.

[00:13:48]They went and actually got an education and I didn't. Um, you know, and that's something that I've beat myself up about my whole life. Uh, the fact that I didn't finish school. And anytime that I would bump into somebody else that did have, you know, a college degree, um, you know, I would really beat myself up about it because, like I said, I felt like I was less than because I didn't have one.

[00:14:12]And that's just no way to live, guys. uh you know comparing ourselves to other people and where other people are at in their lives and you know and definitely materialistic things you know don't compare yourself to other people and how much they have materialistically um that's not important I mean it really truly is not we can't take any of the stuff with us at the end of the day we just can't and life is so short it really truly is you know life flies by And I think for a lot of us, especially Americans, um, and, you know, please don't take what I'm saying as, you know, I'm putting anybody down. I'm an American. Uh, but, you know, we've got this idea of, you know, of consumerism and we have to continually buy things and, you know, we have to keep up with everybody else. And, you know, our next door neighbors, they get this, you know, they they get the new little like uh the fake hinges for your garage door to make it look like they're barn doors. Well, we have to get those on ours, too. So, what if they're $150 and we don't have the money this month, you know? Well, they have it, so we need it, too. You know, and it's things like that. And then you start to Sorry, guys. I got fire ants biting my feet right now. I'm wearing flip-flops out here. But, um, you know, we'll start to beat ourselves up because we don't have what they have. And like I said, you know, next thing you know, you're spending $150 on something that you don't have $150 to spend. But you can't be left out like everybody else. You know, you I had a friend of mine that used to say all the time, he said, "You don't want to be left out Lamont." And um you know, you don't want to be left out Lamont. You don't want to be the person that doesn't have what everybody else does. But that stuff is not important. And when you know, when you keep doing that, you're comparing yourself to other people. Like I said, your next door neighbors um and you just don't have the money right now to keep up with what everybody else has going on. um you know it can really start to make you feel depressed and what's one of the first things that we do as people with AUD uh when we or or an addiction problem when we start getting depressed what's the first thing that we usually do we reach for the bottle we reach for that substance because we feel down we feel depressed and we want to bring ourselves back up so we think that alcohol is the solution to that issue but at the end of the day the root cause of all of this is because we were comparing oursel to somebody else and had we not compared ourselves to our next door neighbor and started bringing ourselves down, we might not have felt that need to drink so uh strongly. And that's what I said, like I said, what I wanted to talk about today because I think a lot of our problems um they they they stem from us comparing ourselves to other people. Um, and I think one of the really big ones is comparing ourselves to other people and the amount of materialistic things that they have.

[00:17:08]Like I said, your next door neighbor's got a brand new 2026 Chevy Silverado and you're driving a 1995 Ford uh Escort and you're like, "Well, how how come they have this nice vehicle and I have this junky one?" And you know, you start thinking to yourself, well, they must be doing something that I'm not doing because I cannot afford $1,000 car payment every month, but they can.

[00:17:33]So, you know, you start to beat yourself up and feel like you're less than. And you know, you look at your next door neighbor who's driving their brand new car and you're like, "Wow, you know, I wonder what they have that I don't have."

[00:17:46]And that's just not a good way to live.

[00:17:48]You know, we're all in different seasons of our life for one. You know, um, you know, you might be going through something right now that you need to go through. You know, there might be a challenge that you're experiencing that you need to go through in order to, you know, uh, tackle the next challenge that you're going to have 5 years from now, you know, and you just don't see it. But this challenge that you're experiencing in the moment is preparing you for the challenges you're going to have later on down the road. And once you get through that next challenge, you're going to look back with hindsight and go, "Man, I'm glad that I went through that." But in the time, you know, in the moment, you're not thinking that way. All you're thinking is, "Man, I just want to be able to have a drink. Life sucks right now. I don't like the way that things are going. I don't have all this nice stuff. All of my neighbors have brand new vehicles and, you know, brand new furniture in their house and 85-in television screens hanging on their walls. And here I am still with a tube television, a car from the '9s. All of my furniture is secondhand. I'm wearing secondhand clothes. I've got $2 in my bank account. You know, you start to feel less than everybody. But that's just not the case. Like I said, we're all in different seasons of our lives.

[00:19:02]We don't realize that what we're going through in the moment is going to benefit us later in life. It's going to teach us something. It's going to uh, you know, make us feel more comfortable being in those really hard moments. That's going to make it a heck of a lot easier, like I said, later on down the road. And, you know, the thing is, there's always going to be somebody out there who's got it better than you. That's just the way the world works. And if you, you know, sit around and continually compare yourself to other people and start to get depressed because you feel like you're less than because, you know, your next door neighbor's got more than you and your your brother or your sister's doing way better than you and, you know, things like that. You know, you're you're never going to be happy. I mean, I'll be honest with you guys, my younger brother is doing way better than I am financially. Um, I mean, he he's doing a heck of a lot better than I'm doing financially. Uh, but that's just the way it works, you know, and I'm I'm not comparing myself to him. Um, you know, where where he might be doing better than I am financially. uh you know I might have um you know another part of my life that he looks upon and goes I wish I had that going on in my life and I would rather give up the money and have this you know uh you know something like sobriety sobriety or something like that you know I might be looking at like let's say my next door neighbor and going it must be nice to have a brand new four-wheel drive Chevy Silverado and I can't afford that and man you know I start beating myself up about it and, you know, feeling like less than this person because they have a brand new car. All the meanwhile, my next door neighbor's looking at me going, "Man, I wish I could figure out how to get sober. I'd give up this brand new vehicle if I could find sobriety." You know, and we don't realize, but there's something that, you know, the person that we're comparing our lives to is looking on us and comparing their lives to ours and wishing they had something that we had. That's just the way that life works. And once again, I'm talking about this today because I think that it's the root to a lot of our problems.

[00:21:10]I know for myself, it really truly was.

[00:21:13]Comparing myself to other people used to depress me. And like I said, if you look around and you look hard enough, you're always going to find somebody who's got it better off than you do.

[00:21:24]And I know it's easier said than done.

[00:21:26]you know, being content with where you are in life and just being happy with what you have and being happy with where you are in your life. Like I said, I know that's easier said than done, but sometimes we just need a little a little tap on the shoulder, a little reminder um that we our lives are good. You know, number one, we're alive today. We woke up this morning. You got to see another sunrise. You know, we got another rotation around this earth. um you know just be waking up in the morning is a blessing and like I said comparing yourself to your next door neighbor or whoever it may be um all that's going to do is bring you down and when you start to get depressed like I said was one of the first things that us as people with addiction problems we reach for whatever it is that get brings us comfort.

[00:22:16]So, we start to feel depressed. We go back and drink and we we expect it to bring us comfort and the next thing you know, we're actually now we're hyperfocused on the fact that our next door neighbor is doing better off than us. And like and I know for myself, you know, I would get in these these moments where I'd start to get depressed because I was comparing myself to somebody else and then I'd go drink and then guess what? The depression would just get worse.

[00:22:42]And now I'm sitting around the back table, you know, thinking that this was going to relieve my stress and make me feel better. And now all the alcohol did was hyperfocus my attention on the fact that I'm not doing as good as I thought I was. And it would just make me even more depressed.

[00:23:01]It just it doesn't end well, guys. And like I said, the reason I'm talking about this today is that alcohol or a substance is not the answer. And and number one, um you know, don't compare yourself to other people. I know it's easier said than done, but you're at the place you're at in your life because you're supposed to be there right now.

[00:23:20]And I know sometimes that's hard to to look at and go, "Yeah, right." You know, I could be doing so much better right now. But like I said, later on in life, you're going to look back at whatever's going on in your life right now with hindsight, and you're going to see that this this period of your life, you needed to go through it for whatever reason. Because a lot of times we learn lessons from those hard periods of our life. Or it teaches us how to handle stressful situations. Or, you know, maybe you needed to deal with this because you just recently got sober and you're going through a tough period in your life right now and you're test you're being tested, you know, and you're you're making it, you know, you're dealing with these stressful things. Your mind, you know, you can't get your mind off of whatever and but you're still staying sober and, you know, that could be a test. It's showing you that you can make it through anything. that even though life can be hard and difficult and you're going to have rough patches and things like that, that you still can remain sober through them.

[00:24:26]But not only, you know, not only do I want to talk about stop comparing yourself to others as far as materialistic things and, you know, just comparing yourself to what other people where they're at in life or whatever.

[00:24:38]You know, where they're at with their education. You know, maybe your next door neighbor has a doctorate and you know, like you like I said, maybe you're like me, you didn't finish college and you know, you're comparing yourself to them and thinking, "Well, I'm less than or whatever." Not just those types of things, but here's the big one. Here's the kicker for today's video.

[00:24:58]Comparing yourself to other people and how much they drink. And this is something I used to do all the time back in the day. It's one of the first questions that I would ask people when I found out that they drank.

[00:25:09]Let's say that I hired a new cook in my kitchen and I was just getting to know him and I, you know, we're back there and I'm teaching them how to do, you know, whatever it is and I'm having a conversation with him and the next thing you know I ask him, "Hey, you drink?"

[00:25:22]And they're like, "Drink what?" You know, drink beer or liquor or anything like that? You drink alcohol? And oh yeah, yeah, I drink, you know, sometimes. And you How much do you drink? Oh, you know, I drink a six-ack of beer every day or something like that. You know, every single day. Yeah.

[00:25:40]Every day.

[00:25:42]Or that, you know, they tell you I'm drinking, you know, a liter of Jack Daniels every single day or something like that. And the first thing that I would think to myself is, "Oh, well, I'm not as bad off as they are, so I'm okay."

[00:25:57]And that's something that I used to do all the time back when I was in active addiction. Now, I would say a lot more earlier on than later on in life because towards the end of my drinking, I didn't know anybody who drank in the fashion that I did. Really, to be honest with you guys, I just didn't. Um, you know, I was the heaviest drinker that I knew. I didn't know anybody that even came close to the amount of alcohol that I drank towards the end of my drinking. Um, which was one of the things that depressed me towards the end of my drinking because I still asked people, you know, how much do you drink? What's the frequency? yada yada yada. And people would tell me, oh, you know, I drink this amount or whatever. And I would s I would look at myself and go, oh my gosh, you know, I'm drinking a half a gallon of vodka every single day.

[00:26:47]And like the worst of the worst of people that I knew were maybe like a liter of vodka every day or a liter of liquor every single day, but not a half a gallon. And it depressed me and it made me feel like I had got I had painted myself into a corner that I was never going to be able to get out of.

[00:27:06]Um, it really truly did uh put me in a very dark place mentally because I really felt like I was never going to be able to get get my way. I was never going to be able to climb out of that at that point. But earlier in my drinking, and this is the reason I'm talking about this today, is because I think for a lot of us, we do this. We compare ourselves to other people. Um, I think it happens uh in the YouTube community as well. Um, you know, I think some people will watch, you know, certain YouTubers just to, you know, um, trying to think how to word this. And and please don't take what I'm saying the wrong way because I'm not saying anything negative about anybody or anything like that. But I think sometimes people will watch some of us, you know, on YouTube and think, you know, when they when we're talking about how much alcohol that we drank back in the day or whatever, people will watch and they'll go, "Well, I never got that bad, so I'm okay." You know, I never got to a place where I was drinking a half a gallon of vodka every day, so I'm okay.

[00:28:10]I don't have that bad of a problem. And that's like I said, that's the reason I'm talking about this today. Um, is that don't do that, you know, don't compare yourself to others and then tell yourself, well, I'm not as bad off as they are, so I'm okay. You know, what what is the addiction doing in your life? You know, don't compare yourself to other people and think, well, they're drinking a case of beer every day. I drink a 12-pack every day, so I don't have a problem and I'm still good to go.

[00:28:40]So, I don't need to worry about quitting or anything like that. And I can carry on drinking the way that I am because I am nowhere near as bad off as whoever this person is.

[00:28:50]But like I said, where is your life at right now? And how is your addiction uh treating your life right now? You know, compare yourself to yourself.

[00:29:02]Where were you at 2 years from now? Were you drinking a 12-pack of beer a day 2 years ago? You probably weren't, you know, you probably were drinking a six-ack of beer or three beers a day or whatever it is. And where are you at now? You know, did you go two years ago, did you go from drinking three beers a day or two deuce deuces a night when you got off of work to an 18 pack every single day? Your drinking has increased significantly over a period of two years. And like I said, compare yourself to you and where you were, you know, this time a year ago or 2 years ago or 5 years ago or whatever it is. Don't compare yourself to other people and tell yourself that it's a- okay- and that you don't have a problem because you're nowhere near as bad off as this other person is. If if your addiction if if you're drinking or the substance that you're you know having an issue with or maybe it's gambling or pornography or shopping or whatever if it's affecting your life in a negative way and you've tried to quit you know and you can't.

[00:30:05]You've tried to stop and you get very uncomfortable, go through withdrawals, get sick, get into arguments with people. your spouse is always upset with you because of the amount of alcohol you're drinking or your spouse is always upset with you because you're continuing to use after they've asked you multiple times to stop or either slow down and you can't do it. Um, you know, if these things are happening in your life, uh, you know, don't compare yourself to somebody else and go, "Well, I'm not as bad off as they are, so I don't have a problem, so I don't need to worry about it." If you're having problems in your life, you need to fix those problems in your life. You know, like I said, don't compare yourself to other people.

[00:30:45]Use your life to compare yourself to.

[00:30:52]Look back 3 years ago. Where were you at 3 years ago with your drinking?

[00:30:57]Has it increased? Has it gotten worse?

[00:31:00]You know, were you three years ago were you just drinking on the weekends and now you're waking up every single morning before you go to work and drinking three beers and sneaking off for on your lunch break to slam a couple of cold ones. And then, you know, you've got a a cooler in the back in your trunk full of ice and beer. And as soon as you get off work every single day, you're grabbing two cold ones out of the trunk and putting them up in the cup holders and driving home with them on the way home every single day. And then stopping in your driveway and slamming a beer before you walk inside so that your spouse doesn't see you drinking all this. And you're pretending like you're only drinking two beers every night, but you're really drinking 12. And you've got to drink all of those beers away from other people so they don't see you.

[00:31:43]You know, that right there is a problem, guys. You know, if you're hiding your consumption, you're lying about your consumption, you're lying about, you know, how much alcohol that you went and bought, you're lying about the fact that you're drinking at all. You know, you get home from work and your spouse asks, "You drink today?" "Nope." "And you just drank, you know, 10 beers earlier."

[00:32:04]You know, that's a problem right there.

[00:32:07]So, don't look at somebody else and compare yourself to them and go, "Oh, well, you know, they're drinking um, you know, a liter and a half of liquor every single day and I'm only drinking a 12-pack every single day, so they have a problem. I don't. And I can still continue to drink. Once I get to that place, then I'll stop. But until then, I'm still good to go." Don't do that.

[00:32:32]You don't want to get to that next place.

[00:32:36]These fire ants are eating me up.

[00:32:40]But you you don't want to get to that place. You don't want to allow yourself to go that far. You know, is it a problem right now? You know, look at your consumption. Look at what's going on. Look at your life right now. Is whatever it is causing problems in your life. Have you tried to stop but can't?

[00:32:59]Have you tried to stop and went through, you know, really bad withdrawal?

[00:33:04]Is it causing problems in your relationships? Is it causing problems in your family?

[00:33:11]Have you gotten a DUI, gotten into a car crash?

[00:33:17]Is it causing any negative effects in your life right now? If so, then it could be a problem. But my point to today's video is is that don't compare yourself to other people and tell yourself that it's you're good to go because you're not anywhere near as bad off as this other person. If you continue to do that, I can almost guarantee you that at some point you'll end up in that place that you know, you'll end up as bad off. And I'm not saying for sure. I'm just saying that you potentially could end up as bad off as that person that you're comparing yourself to. Because back when I was younger and all the people that I stacked myself up against and told myself I'm nowhere near as bad off as him, I'm not hiding in liquor closets and drinking and walking around with many bottles in my pocket and, you know, falling down and many bottles flying out of my pockets all over the floor and stuff like that. So, you know, I don't have a problem like that. Well, guess what? One of the main people that I compared myself up against for years upon years, and this person is has a very bad problem with alcohol.

[00:34:31]But I kept stacking myself up against them and comparing myself to them, going, "Well, I'm nowhere near as bad as them, so I'm still good." Well, guess what? It eventually got to the place where I ended up even worse than that person.

[00:34:46]And the person that I used to compare myself to is in their 80s now and still drinking.

[00:34:54]I'm in my 40s and almost lost my life because of my consumption. This person's never had one problem healthwise because of alcohol at all. Never once. Liver is fine. Pancreas is fine. Spleen's good to go. No issues.

[00:35:11]They've had some other health problems, but it was nothing to do with their drinking at all. And they're in their 80s. I'm in my 40s and almost lost my life because of my drinking. And guess what? I was comparing myself to this person all along, thinking I was okay, but I wasn't. And I ended up being worse than them at the end of the of it all and almost lost my life of because of it. So once again guys, don't compare yourself to other people and think that you're good to go because you're not drinking as bad as they are or whatever.

[00:35:45]How is it affecting your life? Is it affecting your life in a negative way?

[00:35:48]Do you feel like you need to stop? Have you tried to stop and can't do it? Have you tried to stop and went through withdrawals?

[00:35:58]Are your friends and family coming to you and talking to you about it all the time, begging you to stop? Is your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend begging you to quit? Are you guys having fights about how much you're drinking or using?

[00:36:14]That should tell you right there if you have a problem or not.

[00:36:20]Not comparing yourself to other people.

[00:36:24]And guys, with that said, I'm going to go ahead and hop off of here for today.

[00:36:28]Thank you so much for watching. And then like I said, I just wanted to talk about that today because I think it is very important. You know, just as a reminder that, you know, we're our own people and we are in our own lives.

[00:36:41]Let's pay attention to our lives and not focus on other people lives. Stack ourselves up against other people and tell ourselves that we're good to go because we're not as bad as this other person is or vice versa. Well, however it works out, you know, we are in our own lives living our lives. And if you feel like you have a problem or like I said, other people are telling you this, then that might be the case.

[00:37:09]Pay attention to your life. Compare yourself against yourself 3 years ago.

[00:37:14]Where are you at? Do you feel like you might have an issue? And if so, do something about it. But speak with a doctor first. Don't try to quit drinking or using benzoazipines abruptly because it can be life-threatening. Speak with a doctor. Tell them the truth about how much the frequency that you're drinking and let them help guide you through this process. They can make it a heck of a lot easier for you guys. I tried to, you know, cold turkey it so many times at home and I always ended up getting super sick and, you know, had all kinds of problems. I never felt good. It was always horrible.

[00:37:57]It wasn't until I went into the hospital, you know, I was already in the hospital because I was sick. I was losing my life because of my drinking.

[00:38:05]It wasn't until I was in the hospital for pancreatitis and all that stuff and went through a medical detox. And so I was able to finally stop.

[00:38:14]Guys, let's stay sober one more day. And like I said, don't compare yourself to other people. Compare yourself to you.

[00:38:22]Look back a year, 6 months, 2 years, whatever it is. Do you feel like you're doing better in life or worse? And if you're doing better, we'll continue on that path. And if you feel like you're doing worse, what is your game plan to move forward? What are you going to do to fix it? Your life is in your hands and we want to live the best life that we possibly can and sobriety is one step to getting there. Like I said guys, with that said, until tomorrow, I will see you all then. Thank you so much for being here guys and uh I love you all so much. Bye-bye.