Blog #1 - Excess to Excellence

The ethos behind soberski is not at all to focus on the reasons why you shouldn’t drink, or even saying you can’t ever again. It isn’t a preach to tell you that you should live your life a different way – it’s a tool to show you that a bigger world exists if you’re seeking something more. I can only speak for myself when I say that I’ve wasted too many hours, days, weeks and even months of making my life way harder then it needed to be, purely by putting alcohol first too many times. I’ve not said myself that I’ll quit forever, but right now I just don’t have any intention of going back, and I’ll tell you why.

Whether that’s making terrible decisions that I would later regret, or waking up horrendously depleted and battling through the day from start to finish, there’s dozens and dozens of situations that I could have avoided altogether if had been able to just ease off a little and stop after a couple. 

I did some big reflecting after another hectic season that rolled straight into summer, and something really dawned on me. I had a constant feeling that I was always just about scraping through, getting by, and juggling a thousand things that could smash to pieces at any second if I didn’t keep racing about at 100mph.  I realised that I didn’t have to live that way, but one of the biggest reasons for that way of living was down to my priorities. Guess what was at the top of the list?

I started to wonder how I had ever made it this far, given the volume and the frequency I was drinking. It sparked a curiosity in me that I’d never felt before, and I started to wonder, “If I can do all of these things whilst drinking at the rate that I do, what could I go on to achieve without it?” I felt like I wasn’t operating anywhere near my true potential and despite externally looking like I had a few things together, internally it couldn’t have been further from the truth.

The idea of going sober has been swirling around in my head rent-free for several years, and this thought often peaked around the start of winter. I’d like to say it’s because of something cool (or cringe) like “Sobriety is the first step of my winter arc!” - but in truth, it stems from severe anxiety around health - pretty ironic. I majorly suffered with being afraid of becoming ill or having something underlying that no one had spotted, and I’d become convinced that I’d done irreversible damage over the years of overindulgence needing doctors to prove to me otherwise.

 Coming straight off a busy summer of work and straight into the dead of winter throws me off completely, and alcohol simply makes it worse. When you’re pillar to post for months on end and cramming every spare second with big days out, pub garden pints, and casual boozing on account of “the weather”, my mind doesn’t know what to do when life inevitably slows down. For the first time in years last winter, I made a conscious choice to stop drinking out of choice for a positive reason, not necessity at breaking point.

I finally decided that I was tired of going into mental freefall every November like clockwork, so, selfishly, I created soberski for me. I needed something that could motivate me and hold me accountable to change my ways, something bigger than myself. In my mind, I wanted to try my best to live and work towards the idyllic experience – one that now I aspire for others to share. With an attention to wellness and taking care of myself in mind, these retreats are designed with a combination of all of my favourite things that I imagine I would like on my ‘perfect’ trip. Finding the best pistes, daily wellness sessions to keep me feeling my best and stay relaxed with a sauna or some yoga. An ice bath to start the day for immediate achievement. An amazing breakfast to set me up for some unbelievable scenes in the mountain playground. A group of mates, old and new, all on the same wavelength who I can genuinely relate to, and break bread with in the evenings. A check-in with a life coach to see how I'm doing and provoke some introspection. Surrounding myself with people that have had similar struggles and that aspire to get more out of life than they currently are.

soberski is for stuck people to come unstuck. It’s to show people that there is in fact a trip you can go on where you return feeling better than when you set off. It’s to reassure you that you don’t have to put your mind and body through a blender just to please the people around you. You can have unreal adventures, cover the most terrain, and scale to the highest highs without having to reach the lowest lows afterwards. You can clear your head, reclaim your control and use your haze-free holiday as all of the motivation you need when you return to normality, brimming with inspiration and a fresh perspective on life.

soberski started with me, but it grows with you. More than just a week, this is the start a movement, a community, and a monumental mindset shift across the world.

I didn’t think there was a choice to give alcohol a break, especially in a ski resort…

Now there is.

B