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Twenty-Five Years Trying to Quit Drinking

August 15, 2026 · 48 min

Show notes

Judd never considered that he would quit drinking before turning forty. After all, for twenty-five years he would pick the idea up and put it down as regularly as if it were his morning coffee. But one day he picked up a receipt for a book he'd bought two years earlier yet never read. Suddenly the countdown was on, and he was no longer willing to keep the idea of quitting drinking before forty on the shelf. It was now time to change.

Judd and Coach Cole discuss:

  • How buying The Alcohol Experiment in January 2020 and not reading it for months planted the seed that eventually took hold

  • Why turning quitting into a 30-day, then 90-day, then six-month goal made an impossible habit feel achievable

  • The moment his now-wife suggested he aim for a year instead of six months, and why he said yes

  • How he used the rawness of his first alcohol-free months to write a novel exploring AI, free will, and addiction

  • Why naltrexone and other medications raise real questions about free will, even when they work

  • What it was like to travel internationally alcohol-free for the first time, from Sydney's hidden NA bar scene to San Juan's early morning joggers

  • How realizing most people at parties were not drinking as much as he assumed changed the way he saw every social event

  • And more on goal-setting, dating after quitting, and what it really means to find your own path to alcohol freedom…

Ready to take the next step? Visit https://learn.thisnakedmind.com/podcast-resources for free resources, programs, and more. Until next week, stay curious!

Episode links:

alcoholexperiment.com

More on this episode:

https://thisnakedmind.com/podcast/quit-drinking-before-turning-forty-judds-naked-life-ep-932/

Judd's Book - Syncope: https://amzn.to/44Y2964

When you buy something we recommend, we may get an affiliate commission — but it never affects your price or what we pick.  

Related episodes:

Escaping The Hamster Wheel of Drinking | Alcohol Freedom Coaching | EP 847 - http://thisnakedmind.com/why-cant-i-quit-drinking-after-so-many-tries-afc-e847/ 

Beer at 10 – Jim's Story | Naked Life Stories | EP 383 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-383-naked-life-story-jim/ 

Reader Question – What are Naltrexone and The Sinclair Method? | Reader Questions | EP 82 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-82-reader-question-naltrexone-sinclair-method/ 

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Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UB06sNguPjVvgAYFBcR9I?si=b7568f24c21249ff


This episode is sponsored by Quince, Hungryroot, and BetterHelp

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