How Giving Up Alcohol Transformed Everything, with Dr Alex George
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this deeply personal episode of High Performance, Dr. Alex George shares his transformative journey from rock bottom to recovery, exploring the critical role alcohol played in masking his grief and ADHD. The conversation begins with Dr. Alex's pivotal moment on April 12, 2022, when he looked in a hairdresser's mirror and didn't recognize himself—20 stone, exhausted, and lost after medicating his grief over his brother's suicide with alcohol. (04:36) From that moment forward, he made two simple commitments that changed everything: stop drinking and walk every morning. This episode challenges the cultural normalization of alcohol consumption while offering practical wisdom about grief, mental health, and the courage to make life-changing decisions.
- Main Theme: The transformative power of sobriety and facing difficult emotions rather than medicating them, combined with practical insights about ADHD, grief, and building a healthier relationship with yourself.
Speakers
Dr. Alex George
Dr. Alex George is an A&E doctor who gained public recognition after appearing on Love Island, but has since become a prominent mental health advocate, youth mental health ambassador, podcaster, and author. He has leveraged his platform to campaign for mental health awareness and support, particularly following the tragic loss of his brother to suicide. His upcoming book "Am I Normal?: Understanding Your Place in a Complex World" explores ADHD, neurodiversity, and societal expectations.
Jake Humphrey
Jake Humphrey is the co-host of the High Performance podcast, bringing six years of experience interviewing high achievers about their journeys to success. He has observed that approximately 80% of High Performance guests are neurodiverse in some way, reflecting the self-selecting nature of driven, high-achieving individuals.
Key Takeaways
Start Small When Making Big Changes
Dr. Alex emphasizes that when trying to transform your life, the key is starting with manageable commitments rather than overwhelming yourself. (14:42) When he hit rock bottom, he made just two promises: stop drinking and walk every morning. He explains that many people fail at major life changes because they try to do too much at once. By focusing on these two simple actions, he gradually built momentum that led to weight loss, marathon running, and overall life transformation. This approach recognizes that sustainable change comes from building small habits that compound over time rather than attempting dramatic overnight transformations.
Alcohol Is Often Self-Medication in Disguise
Dr. Alex reveals that he had been "medicating with alcohol for probably most of my life, taking the edge off things" without realizing it. (07:59) He identifies three groups of people who shouldn't drink at all: anyone with ADHD (due to the brain's existing dopamine deficits and poor executive functioning), anyone feeling stuck in life (as alcohol can be "that lead ball around your ankle"), and anyone struggling with mood issues (since alcohol is fundamentally a depressant). This reframes drinking from a social norm to a conscious choice that should be evaluated based on its impact on your specific circumstances and mental health.
Face Your Emotions Instead of Avoiding Them
The most difficult part of quitting drinking wasn't putting down the bottle—it was "allowing everything to come up" and having to deal with emotions that had been suppressed. (16:35) Dr. Alex describes how depression cleverly mimics the flu by making you want to withdraw from others, stay isolated, and avoid activities that could help. He emphasizes that happiness shouldn't be put on a pedestal while demonizing other emotions like sadness, anger, or grief, as every emotion serves a purpose. The key is not getting stuck in any single emotion but allowing yourself to flow through them naturally.
Grief Doesn't Follow a Linear Path
Dr. Alex challenges the popular "five stages of grief" model, explaining that it was originally designed to describe stages someone goes through when they're dying, not how we process others' deaths. (43:49) He describes grief as more like a figure-eight pattern where you move fluidly between different emotions—sometimes accepting, sometimes angry, sometimes sad. The goal isn't to reach an endpoint of acceptance but to keep flowing through emotions without getting stuck. This perspective removes the pressure to "get over" grief and instead focuses on learning to move with it naturally.
Society Often Works Against You, Not You Against Yourself
Through his journey of understanding ADHD and writing his book, Dr. Alex discovered that "society works against you a lot of time" and that many things we blame ourselves for are actually systemic issues. (30:25) He learned that much of what we consider our personal failures or shortcomings are actually society being set up in ways that don't accommodate different ways of thinking and being. This insight can provide tremendous relief and self-compassion, shifting the narrative from "what's wrong with me?" to "how can I better navigate a world that wasn't designed for how I naturally function?"
Statistics & Facts
- 40% of people with ADHD have alcohol misuse disorder, demonstrating the strong connection between ADHD and problematic drinking patterns. (19:49) This statistic was shared by Dr. Alex when explaining why people with ADHD should avoid alcohol entirely.
- People with untreated ADHD live shorter lives - women on average live 8 years shorter and men live 6 years shorter than neurotypical adults, according to a meta-analysis of 35,000 people. (37:08) This emphasizes the serious long-term health impacts of undiagnosed and untreated ADHD.
- The average wait time for adult ADHD assessment in England is 8 years, with the NHS having closed waiting lists entirely in some areas. (35:48) This highlights the critical gap in mental health services and forces many people to self-diagnose and manage their conditions independently.
