Gone Ghost — What does it mean to go all the way?
Have you ever felt your life spiraling out of control and felt powerless to stop it?
Of course, you have; I think it’s part of being human.
So how do you take control of your life again when you’ve lost control of yourself and when you can’t see the light anymore?
- Today’s article is written from a random hotel room in Scotland.
- Today’s article is written after my 7th day of drinking whisky in a row.
- Today’s article is written because I’ve finally decided to do what I must..
Let’s discuss, shall we my internet friend?
“The Secret of life is to die before you die, and find out that there is no death.”
As I sit hear listening to the writing hack that is the Interstellar soundtrack, I’ve finished off my second bottle of Laphroaig whisky this week.
Yes, I know what some of my loyal readers are wondering…
Didn’t you quit drinking, Luke?
I quit for approximately 157 days(or something), and it all began last August. I’d realized that, well, I had lost control of myself.
Last summer, I bought and refurbished a campervan and drove all over Scotland. It was the beginning of this spiritual and well journey to the end of myself that I’m currently undertaking.
I visited random fishing villages, beautiful islands, and of course, many whisky distilleries.
It was a difficult year for me, and I won’t dive into why fully on the internet but let's just say I was grieving a deep loss.
I began drinking whisky when I moved to the UK in 2019, and when Covid hit, I slowly began to consume more and more to battle stress and anxiety and well the pressures of running an online business.
Last summer, I’d reached a point where I was drinking half a bottle or more of Laphroaig every single day.
- I showed up to discovery calls trashed.
- I showed up to client calls trashed.
- I wrote content trashed.
- I was always trashed.
One day in late August, on a particularly tough day, I downed an entire bottle in a day, and worst of all, I FELT NOTHING.
NO buzz, no inspiration to write, nada.
It was on this day I decided I needed to quit.
So I made a bet with my LinkedIn audience that I could go the rest of 2022 without drinking, and if I failed, I”d buy anyone who commented on that particular post a pizza.
Turns out that woulda have been over 7k if I’d failed.
I won the bet naturally, go me..
However, here I am again, 3 weeks into testing casually drinking.
It turns out, I don’t do casual very well, HA.
This spring, I am in a much better place personally; however, I’ve yet to go fully GHOST like I’ve wanted to.
I’ve decided March 1st it’s the time to do that.
Why do I want to go ghost, and what does that even entail?
If you read my first article here on Medium, you saw me describe my desire to move somewhere where I know nobody, to cut all forms of cheap dopamine, and obsessively build my business, my body, and my soul.
I’ve begun taking steps to make this happen.
- I deleted Instagram and Tiktok off my phone.
- I quit posting on my LinkedIn account of 83k followers.
- I’ve been hiding in an undisclosed location, working on myself.
- I’ve begun journaling my goals and what it will take to achieve them.
- I’ve faced the truth that although I’ve made good steps, I’ve still been holding on.
Going “full ghost” for me means the following:
I separate myself from society as a digital monk and fast all forms of cheap dopamine. This means only interacting with people who are involved in my business and my clients.
- No movies.
- No scrolling anything, including LinkedIn and Twitter.
- Scheduling out content for all of March and not logging in. My team will engage for me on my LinkedIn Business Page & Twitter.
- No alchohol, junk food, or any form of pleasure from food or drink.
- No women.
Now you might be thinking to yourself wtf, Luke?
What are you going to do?
I plan on spending all of my time working on my business and myself.
Currently, that means:
- Reading books.
- Listening to audiobooks.
- 1 LinkedIn Blog post a week.
- Recording one YouTube video a week.
- 1 Medium thought-based article from the road a week.
- And most importantly, working on my business systems and clients.
My March is going to be a ghosty one, but I will see you on the other side, friends.
Oh, and a fun fact, I will be returning to LinkedIn on April 1st armed with new content, carousels, video clips, and an evolved style.
Until then, I hope you enjoy what I’m putting out and wish me luck as I quit drinking again.
Cheers friends.