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1,461 Days Sober - Why I'd Never Go Back

1,461 Days Sober - Why I'd Never Go Back

Jack Salmon
March 19, 2026

Become the best you

Welcome to this weeks newsletter -1,461 Days Sober - Why I'd Never Go Back

My Story

If I could sum myself up for the majority of my twenties, it would be: out of control.

Actually, let me tell you a story and you tell me if you think I was out of control or not.

You’ll clearly see why I went sober after hearing this.

One night I ended up getting smashed and having an argument with an ex-partner. It was probably over nothing. As I was driving “yes, I was drunk driving”, I started punching my front windscreen. It smashed. Then I pulled off the rear-view mirror and got out of the car and booted the door, smashing the window.

Yes, this was my own car, which I later had to pay for.. ahaha

After this, I dropped her home, drove immediately to a 24-hour Tesco, bought a suitcase, went back to my flat, chucked everything I could into it, and booked a flight to Magaluf.

Why Magaluf?

I had someone I knew who was there for a couple of months, and he mentioned to me, “You can stay anytime.” I think he said it as a passing comment but I took it literally.

So I ordered a cab and went to the airport. As I got there, I realised there was a quicker flight, so I boarded that one instead. I was in a hurry.

While doing all of this, I was sitting there drinking and sniffing drugs, so much that I carried it onto the plane and continued all the way to Magaluf.

As I landed, I phoned my friend and said, “I’m here, where are you?”

He said, “You’re where?”

“I’m in Magaluf… you said I could stay.”

He must have been baffled, but he told me where to go and had to put me up for a few days.

Over the next couple of days, I went straight through a two-day bender only to book another last-minute flight home after a heavy night out. I think reality hit me, and I realised what I was doing. Plus, let’s just say my ex-partner wasn’t too happy.

This is just one of many stories and by the way it took me another 4 years after this to actually commit!

And as I look back now, it makes me laugh. But as the years progressed, these stories weren’t so fun anymore. It got to a point where I was sitting by myself for days on end, drinking and doing drugs, which led me to hate myself and ultimately not want to live anymore.

For a good few years, I knew I needed to stop but struggled to commit.

Eventually, I quit and I’ll be five years sober in one month’s time.

Going sober might not be for everyone but for me it was needed, I have gained so much by doing so but these 5 things stood out to me the most.

Number one: Belief

I always struggled with self-belief and didn’t think I’d amount to much in my life and this was mainly due to me always letting myself down. I would say one thing and do the other.

I lived in a constant lie, saying I’d stay in and not drink, or saying I’d change, but always falling short and slipping back into the cycle.

By going sober, it finally allowed me to remain consistent with my word, which has allowed me to trust and believe in myself, which has given me the confidence to completely change my life

Number two: Achieve my dreams

When I was stuck in the cycle of drink and drugs, I didn’t really have any goals. But even if I did, I could never stay consistent, disciplined, or committed enough to actually achieve them.

I would always fall short because half of the week, I wasn’t in my right mind.

When I went sober, everything changed. Once I set a goal in my mind, not only did I have the belief to achieve it, but I was able to remain committed to it.

Since going sober, I have:

Become a high-performance coach and NLP teacher
Built a successful personal development business which has changed over 200+ lives
Developed my own app
Run a sub-3-hour marathon and a 100-mile ultra marathon
Become a paid public speaker
Built a large social media presence

This would never have been possible if I didn’t go sober.

Number three: Built a loving family

As you can see from the story about my ex-partner, I wasn’t the best boyfriend. And when I was drinking, I believe I hurt a lot of people because I was hurting myself.

When I committed to going sober, it gave me the time to deal with past trauma and allowed me to heal the problems I had in my life.

By stepping into a new version of myself, I was able to attract someone who was on the same path as me, a person I wouldn’t have tried being with in the past because of who I was back then.

I have now been in a relationship for six years, and we have a beautiful daughter together.

If I only gained these two things in my life and nothing else, going sober would still have been worth it.

Number four: Create a life I want to live

When I was drinking and doing drugs, I didn’t have a stable career. I was doing things I wasn’t proud of, and I was living week to week. My whole life revolved around the weekend.

That’s all I thought life was about and that was as exciting as my life would ever be.

Going sober opened the gateway for me to try and experience new things in life and build a business which allows me to live on my own terms, something I never thought was possible.

I now get to:

Travel the world with my community and take part in running events
Travel to places like Dubai and run public speaking workshops
Spend my time each day doing things I am passionate about

This was all made possible when I started creating my life instead of escaping it.

Number five: I became someone I am proud of

I spent years hating who I was as a person, and I genuinely was not proud of myself.

I felt like I was neglecting myself, my life, and hurting a lot of people. When you spend so much of your life living that way, it’s only right that you don’t like who you’ve become.

Even though I failed at sobriety around six times, when I finally committed, it was the most respectful decision I ever made for myself and something I will be forever grateful for.

As the years have passed, I’ve been able to:

Become someone I didn’t think was possible
Achieve incredible goals
Create a life I love to live
Help many other individuals do the same with their lives

This is something I am proud of.

And I believe we all want to look in the mirror each day or get to the end of our life and be proud of the person we have become.

What do you want?

As you can see and I’m sure you can agree now, I was someone who didn’t believe in himself, was reckless, was out of control, and had nothing going on in his life.

But by committing to going sober, I was able to completely transform my life and I have helped hundreds of other individuals do the same.

Whether you feel you need to go sober, or maybe it’s just a break you need, make a decision that is right for you and your life.

No one wants to get to the end of their life and look back in regret, knowing deep down they wasted it when they had so much potential inside of them.

As mentioned, I help individuals who were like myself:

Lost
Lacking self-belief
Unfulfilled
Stuck in negative cycles
Not reaching their potential

If this sounds like you, take a look over this page below and see the kind of results you can expect by having me in your corner. And if this resonates with you, book a call and move one step closer to becoming your best self.

Look here: https://becomethebestyou.co.uk/success-stories/

Become the best you

Jack