Joe Quattrone 00:37
Welcome to the Fuzzee-ish ish Podcast where we explore all aspects of meat total in the lifestyle that comes along with it and can be unlocked by it. For your reference, I totally stand for excellence through temperance. And our guests today are none other than your main host, the crew, you’ve got myself Joe Quattrone, you’ve got JMG, the one and only John Mike Guthrie, and you’ve got Carrie human, the original crew, we are the rest in peace. And we will be riding through this journey with you. Through however many hundreds of episodes of this we wind up creating a gentleman, welcome to the show.

JM Guthrie 01:16
Thanks for having us, Joe. Excited.

Joe Quattrone 01:19
All right. So me total is really what we’re talking about here. Jam, I know me and you had a lot of conversations a couple of months back, when we were trying to hash out what this feeling was that we were getting by having this alcohol free lifestyle and what it’s doing for both of our lives. But I’d love to hear from you a little bit. What does the total mean to you? And why is it so important in your life? And why do you love being here right now talking about it?

JM Guthrie 01:46
No, I appreciate it. And it actually kind of started way back in the sense that when I decided to, to stop having to stop drinking, it was actually sort of random. It was that I decided to do a whole 30 diet in September of 2021. And, and I realized, oh, shit, I’m at the stop drinking and eating ice cream at the same time. And that sounded like a lot. So I decided to give up beers for a month longer, and prepare myself for the ice cream, abstaining and ended up coming out of the whole 30 diet, dying for some ice cream and actually, okay, not drinking. And here we are 500 some days later, still haven’t had an alcoholic drink. And obviously, just so grateful for that. But as you guys know, we started to talk about what is this feeling? What is this life that we’re living? You know, we’ve all come at staying away from alcohol or abstaining from alcohol from different life directions. We’ll talk about that another time. But my thing is that being sober has such a stigma. The second you say the word, sober, sober, curious, or sobriety, people immediately think you’re in the 12 steps, or you went through the 12 steps, or You almost killed yourself in the car, you hit your wife or any of these things. And the reality is that it didn’t really fit for me. And so through these conversations with you guys, and others, I started to think about what is this life that we’re living? What do we call the abstaining from alcohol that each of us are practicing, and there just wasn’t, there wasn’t any way to sort of really solidify or to define that life. And so as you guys know, we went through a long process, obviously went round and round and talked about the different things that have been considered components of sobriety or sober curiosity for the masses to this point, and ended up leaning into this tea totalism. And obviously, when you Joe, when you brought up teetotaller, I had no idea what that was, and it’s interesting talking to different people. There’s lots of people that do know who teetotallers are. It’s very prominent in really religious sects, both at more of an Orthodox Jewish level. And then when you get into like, really, in evangelical Christianity, Southern Baptists in particular, there are people that like to say they’re a teetotaler. And basically, what that means is they’re straight edge, right, they don’t consume any sort of toxin into their body. And obviously, you know, we decide to potentially indulge in other things to sort of take the edge off. And so that didn’t really fit for us. And I think the thing that really sort of hit for me is, we all started to talk about how important relationships are. And the thing that really hit around relationships was, there’s no way for me to really have the level of empathy that I want to have for you guys as my brothers, but also my wife and my kids and my family and even the colleagues that I work with and from time to time, you don’t have the best relationship. You can’t have empathy for them, good and bad. If you’re not cool with who you are, or at least who you’re trying to be who you’re trying to be. And so there was this moment where you and I were, we were talking about ourselves and me as a component of that. And obviously, we don’t want to be selfish. Selflessness is really a big component of who the least three of us are trying to be in our lives. But the reality is we can’t have that empathy without starting with ourselves. And so I think, Joe, you were the one that said, Well, what if we kind of took a riff on T total and called it me total, or me total ism. And man, if there could be a light bulb at that moment, that hit for me, I know it hit Kerry, too. And what’s cool is that it’s now a few months ago that we sort of started to go down the meat total path, but there’s no doubt in my mind. And I’d love to hear your guys’ perspective, that when people start to talk to me about this, and I’m able to share the story of me totally and watching the light bulb go above their head, that this is a real thing that this is the life that we’re living in. It really does personify who we want to be as people and the message we want to start to share to this community. And ultimately, you know, I think it really helps people to understand it’s okay to not drink. There’s a lot of benefits that come from it. And you can still be successful, both from a social and professional perspective, even without alcohol in your body. So just really excited to finally get going on talking about this outside of our close knit circle.

Joe Quattrone 06:19
Yeah, so for me, I’m glad you brought up the straightedge thing, because, and a 12 step program, because that’s the thing I’ve definitely been grappling with, like, I don’t feel like I’ve ever really identified as like alcoholic, but I’ve definitely had some medical issues with with alcohol. And that’s why I had to cut it out. As well as just like, different life stages. As a parent, I just don’t want to be drunk, I don’t want to be hungover. I don’t want my kids to see any of that stuff. And then I think more importantly, the more and more me and you talked about it and decided to go on this journey together and break Aryan on this podcast, because we’re all kind of from the same part of the world. And we all have very similar kinds of career paths and stuff like that. The thing that really stood out to me was there’s not only tons of people that are alcohol free, but tons of very successful people that are alcohol free, and you wouldn’t exactly know it because Hollywood and corporate America don’t really put alcohol free up on a pedestal. Most people know all they know about people that are alcohol free or sober. It’s just what you see in the movies. They’re just people that are designated drivers or their squares or whatever. And I actually think it’s like, you know, I think some of the most successful people out there have a very healthy relationship like an arm’s length relationship with alcohol. And that’s what I wanted to tell the stories of how we figure out a way to shine a light on the fact that alcohol is pretty much one of the most toxic things you can consume. And there’s a better way to live your life. I think about that statement that we had kind of come out with like when we first started martial negative, or energy around me total. To me, it kind of stands for this idea of excellence through temperatures. Right? So not necessarily full temperance, like you know, if you’re out there consuming cannabis or you got other means of taking an edge off like, as long as it’s got more holistic healing properties. I’m all for it. As long as you’re actually temporary, the way you seek to have psycho psycho reactions or whatever psychedelic reactions, I think that’s fine. But I really just liked the idea of taking care of yourself and trying to live up to become the best version of yourself that you can be for everyone around you. So that’s kind of my testimony if you will, that’s it pertains to me total, but carry when JM I wasn’t there exactly when James started filtering some of these messages across the text message airwaves out to Portland, but what was going on in your mind when you start hearing these things?

Kary Youman 08:47
Yeah, I love how you just consolidated the whole thought into excellence through temperance. I really love that. And I feel like when JM first mentioned mean total to me, I’m like, What does that even mean? You know, I didn’t know what it was. So I didn’t really have a reference point. But as he started to dive in a little bit deeper, it truly resonated for me in so many ways. And it’s funny because I feel like our dynamic when you think about the alcoholic or someone who’s choosing to live an alcohol free life, I think between the three of us we literally are like version one, two, and three. Like I think the full extreme is between the three of us and I definitely yeah, I mean, I wasn’t beating my wife or crashing my car. Just about everything else, you know. So for me, I definitely identified with the traits of an alcoholic. But when I went the path of 12 steps, or some of these more traditional sort of recovery paths, I just didn’t feel like I was in the right room because although I knew alcohol was toxic, there was something in my brain and something in my mind that just didn’t resonate with the messaging. So I think when I heard me total it was really just a way for me to not only take that power back but I start thinking about like, what is me total for me and for me and me total is, you know my method Patient practice. It’s something I’ve been talking about a lot lately if you hear a lot of people talk about sobriety. But rarely do you hear about recovery, like being sober is one thing. But recovery is building that fellowship, it’s building community, it’s creating new accountability points to really deepen your relationship with your community and with yourself. So for me, when I think about myself totally, I think about that commitment to not only better myself, but how can I pour back into my community? How can I be a bridge and share my journey of just choosing to have a clearer mind as I’m moving through the world? So for me, I got really excited about the possibilities of taking something that I’ll just say this, Jim and I were talking and I think at the end of the day, there’s still a lot of people who don’t identify as being alcoholics, but are still looking for, like a place where they can rest their laurels. And I feel like I totally am, it’s a movement that I think a lot of people are going to identify with. Because right now I just feel like there’s only extremes and I think there’s a way for us to utilize me totally as a gathering place for people who are on this journey.

Joe Quattrone 11:07
A lot of the smart psychologists that you hear the news outlets out there that you’re listening to in relation to what you just said, Carrie, would refer to that relationship with alcohol as the gray area. You don’t quite have a 12 step type problem with alcohol but being there’s something there that you probably go down a little bit of a dangerous slippery slope.

Kary Youman 11:27
100% Yeah, the gray area of drinker I think I did read an article or so the other day and yeah, to your point, there seems to be a large portion of our population who just sits in that area. So interesting.

Joe Quattrone 11:37
I was exploring. I was definitely a greater drinker. I, for years and years, I’ve written big, huge beer portfolios for Gary Vaynerchuk, over at VaynerMedia. When you live that lifestyle, and you’re running a multi million dollar business, and your client is in the beer business, there tends to be beer around you more often than not.

JM Guthrie 11:59
Yeah, I mean, I think the cool thing is to your guys’s both of your points. The reality is, there’s just not a good community to talk about this, right? So the second you get into a conversation, or you’re talking to somebody that maybe has noticed some change in you as a person or the lifestyle that you’re living? And what does that mean, you know, what is it? What have you been doing? What is it that you’ve changed? You know, a lot of what we talked about early on, as we started to pull together the thinking of this podcast is what do we center the conversation back on at the end of a 30 minute interview. And I think what we landed on is there’s lots of ways that people are able to sustain this alcohol free lifestyle, right. And for some people, and carry, you touched on this, some people it’s a practice like meditation, or it’s a practice even as far as really devout religion, right. So even if they’re not teetotallers, there are people that are very faith forward that use that faith in that basis foundation in religion, to drive themselves forward to try to be the best person that they can. And maybe not drinking is part of that. There are others that exercise or that are working towards an Ironman or a triathlon, or even just a 10 mile or 5k, doesn’t matter, that feel like their health benefits by not drinking, give them the best ability to tackle or to achieve what they’ve put out as a goal specific to something like that. For others, there’s actual products, right? So alcohol free AF, beer oF keep talking about that, right? non alcoholic beers are for real, they’re out there. There’s lots of them, dozens of different brands that are pushing alcohol free beer to the market, because they’re people like me, that just like to have a beer at the end of the day doesn’t have any effect on me or my mindset, and unfortunately, doesn’t have the alcohol in it, because I would appreciate that alcohol, but at least it gives me the cessation of alcohol on a daily basis, or every few day basis, if I want to have a beer. And that’s, you know, that’s a big deal. And so the cool thing about me total is, it doesn’t matter how you’re getting there, whether it’s a practice, whether it’s a product, whether it’s some combination of various things, whether you’re taking the edge off with something like THC or some cannabis edible or even, you know, maybe having a little toke off of a pipe from time to time, or a pharmaceutical for that matter, that takes the edge off because there are people that are prescribed these drugs that you know, use that for the same thing. Reality is we don’t care. We want to be all inclusive. This is a world, a community , a place where we want to talk about the benefits of not drinking, and that can be not drinking at all, or drinking a little bit less or what have you. Again, there’s no specifics or rules to this.

Joe Quattrone 14:42
One second, real quick. Let’s just clap it up for the fact that there are hundreds of alternatives to alcohol for being alcohol free. When I first started to come, you know basically started to abstain from drinking alcohol. It was like Oh, duels and that was it. Right now there’s hundreds of non alcoholic beer products and I’m a beer drinker. I don’t drink liquor. I don’t drink. I never drink. I never really really was a big liquor drinker. I never really liked why I hated wine. So going alcohol free. The hardest thing for me was beer. And now there’s literally dozens, if not hundreds of alcohol free beer products on the market. So I’m just gonna laptop

JM Guthrie 15:24
snaps all that yeah, I’m here for it. I’m here for it.

Kary Youman 15:28
Oh, man,

Joe Quattrone 15:29
The sharps are such gross, man. I don’t like that. Now I can get my IPAs and I can be satisfied.

JM Guthrie 15:36
So yeah, I mean, that’s the thing, right? There’s but like, Heineken zero is really good. Like, I actually think Heineken 00 might taste better than a real Heineken. And I mean that sincerely. It’s not to hire Barbara to hurdle. No, it’s not. You know, I still see like, super, you know, heady, triple IPA, cloudy, hazy, you know, lack of milkshake, any of those things like my mouth is watering. But the reality is to be able to have something that at least cuts that cessation right away, is a big deal. And something that I think allows people like me that don’t necessarily have that practice, in my life that kind of sent her back to, that’s the thing that assists and that’s the cool thing, it can be any combination of those different aspects of our life. And

Joe Quattrone 16:22
Also more, you know, almost as importantly, is that they’re making them in a way in which they kind of mask the fact that they even have alcoholic beverages. So a lot of it is psychological with people, it’s just the fact that they want to have something in their hands when they’re around other people. And they don’t necessarily want to be drunk or have a hangover afterwards. But they do want to look like they fit in with everybody around them, specifically at a wedding or a holiday party or something like that. So now that there are so many options, do you find it in so many places, you really, you don’t actually feel like you’re missing much. You know, I went to a wedding very recently, I went to holiday parties, I went to a holiday party in Chattanooga, back in December, and there were 30 non alcoholic options on the menu at a regular bar. This bar is open to the public 365 And they have 30 non alcoholic options that are just like Coke and Pepsi. Okay, yeah, that’s pretty

Kary Youman 17:19
impressive. I can appreciate it. I guess you would call it a decaf beer. But I think for me, I don’t know if I really

JM Guthrie 17:25
enjoy your AF appear a

Kary Youman 17:29
I don’t know if I ever truly enjoyed the taste of beer until much later in life like I would just drink to get to the other side of that. My appreciation for beer didn’t happen till later on. But one thing that I have appreciated as you’ve been seeing more of these CBD components like CBD and cron, Bucha, CBD and different beer, and I’ve really enjoyed that I think there’s just a medicinal component that really does take the edge off. For me, it tastes good. And yeah, again, it’s just another way for people to take the edge off. So it’s been cool to just see more introduction of CBD and other products in these drinks.

JM Guthrie 18:02
Have you guys had a chance to like to talk to people about me totally? Like have you had an opportunity, either with a friend or somebody that’s a colleague or, you know, any sort of good stories about how those conversations have gone.

Joe Quattrone 18:16
I talked about it pretty regularly with a lot of different people, I think they’re definitely receptive to it. I’m definitely talking to people that still imbibe, so they haven’t necessarily gone on that walk like I have. So I don’t think they’ll fully get it until they do. But I don’t think they’re very long for drinking in the first place. Because most of these people are aging up, they’re getting into their late 30s, early 40s. So if they’re not there yet, they will be soon. But I think everybody, what it does, at least for them is it gives them some understanding of why I’m doing it, right. Like, it allows me to kind of have an open and honest dialogue and have people not feel sorry for me, you know, the last thing I want anybody to do is feel sorry for me and think that I’m, you know, less of a person than I was when I was drinking, because that’s not the case at all. And I’m more of a person than I was put up streaking. And I think by explaining what the total is, it allows them to understand that, hey, there’s more important things to be like my faith and my children and my wife that I’m going to focus on right now. And I’m going to take alcohol, and I’m going to put it over here. And I’m not necessarily going to destroy people, if that’s what they choose to do. I’m going to live with my wife who still drinks. You know, a lot of my friends still drink and that’s their choice, and I’m supportive of that. And whenever they do want to decide to go in a little bit of a different direction. I’m here to help support. Yeah, no thanks

Kary Youman 19:39
for yeah, thanks for sharing that. The only thing I was gonna say as Jamie is What have people said and yeah, I think the biggest thing is kind of going back to sobriety versus recovery. When I talk about me, people light up because it sounds to them. Like I’m trying to say we’re trying to build we’re building a community like we’re building a space where people can really help highlight and show that yo because I’m choosing alcohol free, like you said, doesn’t mean you have to feel sorry for me like life is better, because I’ve made this decision. And I think as you have more people showing that you can live a life without alcohol and still have fun and still really thrive. I mean, like if the, I don’t want to say any names, but if there were big celebrities who were instead of promoting big alcohol companies, and they started promoting just products that really have a holistic impact on your body, I just feel like you would really see a shift in the dialogue around like, like people go out to drink, like they go out to drink. You know, like, what if we went out? Like, I don’t know, I guess I tried to imagine like, the Super Bowl without alcohol. Like, I think for some people, it’s not even a thought. And again, it’s not that or saying don’t drink alcohol, but in my mind, I’m like, what if What would reality be like if people could go to something like the Super Bowl and not feel like they had to literally drink 25 beers to enjoy? You know?

Joe Quattrone 21:00
Yes, into the Super Bowl that probably consumed about 15 beers at the Super Bowl. Yeah.

Kary Youman 21:06
I haven’t been to the Super Bowl, but I’ve watched it. And I know for sure I’ve had that many beers.

JM Guthrie 21:10
Yeah, I mean, so the reason I asked this is because I have been observing the people that I’m talking to about just my life, right. So people will ask, especially with some of the success that’s happening on the career side, people are just asking how things are going and are interested to sort of understand better, are there things that you’ve been doing? Are there ways that I can be thinking about my life, both personally and professionally. And the reality is, going back to the sober thing, if I just said, Oh, I’m sober, immediate, they’re like, Oh, I’m out. Right? Like, I’m not here for that, like, I’m here for the 25 beers at the Super Bowl. I’m here for the glass of wine with my wife, when I get home, I’m here for the neat Martini that still has the ice in it. And all those things are, I’m here for that too, by the way, but we’ll come back to that. But the reality is the ability to talk about, well, I made these made some personal decisions, because of the relationships in my life starting at home, that I needed to that I needed to achieve a better connection around and realized that drinking had been something that was you know, that I that did have to to Joe’s point control of me. So you start talking about. So I’ve started this brand, and we’re working towards this product. And now I’ve got my friends and my brothers from like, early on in my life. And we’re talking about what it’s been like to not drink or be alcohol abstaining. And then we hired a producer. And he challenged us to bring some sort of central aspect of this conversation to our podcast, which is the product or practice that people use to be able to achieve the day over day of abstaining from alcohol. And then he said, what’s the mantra, and we went through this whole process, and we talked all about it. And there was just really nothing which was so exciting. Think about that just all the content and all the concentration and all the different things that are going on in this world that are you were just consumed by and just getting hit by from every direction. There is nobody out there talking about this in a way that is inclusive, in a way that allows people to be real to themselves and to this community about where they’re at. Nobody’s here to judge you. Nobody’s here to say we’re better because we’re not drinking. Nobody’s here to say Joe’s is not as cool in this community, because he had gout and had to do it for health reasons, versus our boy Kerry, who’s Mike Tyson heavyweight and needed to just put it down, or in me wherever I am in the middle. This is inclusive. This is about a world that we believe is going to have less alcohol in it. And we want to create a community where it’s comfortable to talk about it. And so the reason I say all this is every conversation I get in with the woman who works at the front of this office building, with the friends that I have through my kids baseball and other sports, the people that I work with that authentic, the people that I see on a daily basis in the various aspects of my community. When we start talking about this, they light up carry just like you said, it’s like oh my gosh, there is another option. There is a place that I could potentially go to to feel comfort and solace in the fact that maybe I’m questioning alcohol myself, but don’t feel like there’s a place to talk about think about that. Think about the responsibility of that. And think about just the amazement of the fact that there is no other place that’s really pushing this type of conversation in this type of community to help people this is what we’re here for right?

Joe Quattrone 24:37
Jam, like think about straight edges. You mentioned that up on top of the conversation. Those people and you got to love them as well because they were living a mediocre lifestyle, but the way they chose to project that was with an X on the head. And to me what that signifies is Don’t talk to me. Right? So I’m self-selecting. I’m out of this conversation. These are my people over here. I I think the conversation needs to be less of a circle instead of an x more of a circle, it’s do talk to me do come ask me what my life is about. Because this is a life that is admirable. And this is a link that should be exalted, if you will, like I think more people should strive to live a life like this. Not, hey, I’m over here in this club, and I’m just hanging out with my buddies, we do this and you don’t. So unless you plan on coming over here and doing this, then I don’t want to talk to you. I think we inherently should pick up the baton and try to talk to people about it. Because, you know, the thing that kind of drives me a little bit is now the more more I research, the science behind alcohol, the more or like, damn, did we ever get ourselves to the point where we let society in it to me it feels more like tobacco, you know, like, I don’t know if this is something that’s going to be sustainable for another 50 years. So I want to have as many conversations as I can with people and just offer up the alternative in a very positive and uplifting way.

JM Guthrie 26:02
Yeah. And I’ll be honest, I think that’s right. I think that the difference is alcohol in all aspects and facets. And it’s not, it doesn’t have a direct tie to cancer the way that cigarettes did. And there’s a million things we can talk about. And the reason I say all that is, that’s great. And I’m excited to be part of that too. But for me, this is about helping people to feel the way that I feel 500 In some days later, I had no idea that you could feel the way that I do without alcohol. I didn’t, I thought that was part of my life, I thought that going and having a drink after work with my colleagues was the right thing to do. I thought that when I took a client to dinner, having a martini and a couple of glasses of wine, that was the real deal. That’s how all you know, professional people act and behave. And that’s what success really looks like. And guess what it doesn’t. Like, it’s cool. I’m here to support people that want to continue to practice that lifestyle and consume alcohol in the ways that they do. God bless them. And I hope for them. I hope the best for them as well. What I’m here to do is say, there is really another world to this, there is another reality, and it is something that can truly make you feel the best you ever have personally and professionally. Because of that conviction. And because of the fact that it really does have an impact on your DNA, just the way that you’re made up on a daily basis, it’s a chemical, and there’s a good amount of reaction,

Joe Quattrone 27:30
it may not have the same effect as tobacco does, and a linkage to something like cancer. Although I would say that’s not exactly true, because people back in the day used to die of liver disease all the time, it just so happens that doctors have been consulting you out of alcohol more than over time, people aged out of alcohol bore and stopped drinking, they aren’t dying from it as much. But the thing that I think is most crushing about this is that you may not die because of alcohol. But if you don’t get it under control, you’re gonna have way more regrets in life than you should. And every old person I talked to every cliche you ever see is one of the last things you want to have hanging over your head before we leave this earth is a ton of regret. And so that’s one thing that I would espouse to as many people as possible, if there’s things that matter to you in life, don’t let alcohol ruin those, you know, yeah,

Kary Youman 28:21
yeah, that’s powerful. God, I just want to piggyback. He just said a lot of really great things. But Joe, you said something, just a couple of ticks back, where you’re talking about the straight edge community and the the x’s on the hands, I went through a phase for about a month and my youth where I was like, I’m gonna be straight edge, I’m done with all this stuff. And I put these x’s on my hands. And it was interesting, because there were people I was around. And it was a pretty hardcore environment. And like, I kind of compare it to someone who may be, let’s say, like, you know, maybe a hardcore vegan or just someone who’s taking this alternative path. And what I found sometimes in these communities is, again, the intention is in the right place, like they’re trying to better themselves, they’re trying to tap into the best version of themselves. But I think sometimes through that process, people really do start to isolate and create this sort of superiority complex to where it’s like, I don’t eat meat. I don’t drink alcohol. I don’t smoke. I am legitimately better than you because I don’t do these things. Exactly. What’s really powerful about this meat total community in this movement is back to your point, Jay inclusivity is huge. You know, you think I’m not gonna talk about any particular religious leaders. But you know, if you think about some of the leaders or prophets in the past, like those people truly did create a space for everyone to walk in to be who they are. And I think just with me totally, us choosing not to drink alcohol doesn’t mean in any way shape or form that we are trying to demonize people who drink alcohol, like we can’t sit with family members and pour a glass of wine for them if that’s what they want to do. That’s right.

JM Guthrie 29:58
So when we start talking about the data, I think that’s all going to prove itself. But here, this is about not this is about, we’re here to show you, there’s a community that cares, there’s a place that you can talk about it, there’s a place that you can be a little bit vulnerable about the questions that you have specific to your consumption for whatever reasons those are. And we’re going to support you. And we want to provide you a platform to understand and learn from other people that have been in this path for a long time and haven’t had a good way to tie it back either from a mantra perspective, right, because the reality is, as I think about these last two years, one of the things that really comes to mind specific to what Joe just mentioned, in regards to showing up for the people that you care about, I have three kids, eight, five and three years old, at a really vulnerable age where they are looking to their parents for the model of who they’re going to be next. And that’s a huge responsibility. And I and we could go down a real tangent on this, I believe that’s what we’re on this earth for right is to be people that support the next generation of people, whether we’re fortunate enough to have them as our own, or we’re supporting them from a mentorship perspective, or if we’re supporting them, from some sort of, you know, stepfather perspective doesn’t matter. Reality is our job is to make those people better than we are. And that starts by being the best model that we can be. And part of being the best model is that you are there, you are present, you are 100% in it at all times. And guess what, I was not in it. I was drunk. I was flustered. I would get a weird temper and want to even feel physical towards my children, there’s a bunch of things that I could tell you about that even just a couple of beers put me on the tilt of. And the biggest thing is, I didn’t remember, there would be things I would just forget, there would be meaningful conversations with my kids that I wouldn’t even remember. And they would bring them up and it killed me to not be able to remember exactly what we had talked about, guess what, two years of this. I remember everything that has benefits across the board that has benefits and keeping myself showing up for the things that matter, like moving my body 20 minutes a day, and trying to eat fairly well. And on and obviously not having a drink today. But man, does it matter if my kids are seeing it, they are recognizing it, there is a different level of relationship and conversation that we have. And they are telling other people without me even making it a big deal. About nine out of you know our beer a F. My dad doesn’t drink real beer, he drinks fake beer, like these are all things that really matter and that are just happening organically. And it’s because of the community that I have, which is really been the two of you to talk about this over two years, and some other people that have been great mentors, but man, it has made the biggest fucking difference. I’m a better person, I can say that with 100% conviction and no doubt in my mind, and no sort of skeletons in the closet that’s keeping me from feeling like I’m really showing up with 100% today, just like I did yesterday, and some of them are better than others. But as long as I stick to my mind, my mindset of making today better than yesterday, things are moving along. And the good things continue to sort of come from the decisions that we’re making as a group.

Joe Quattrone 33:17
That’s a good point. And for the listeners out there jam, why don’t we just kind of do a little bit of a roll call on how many days or years each of us has been alcohol free, just to kind of ground everybody and what perspectives were coming from because I think, you know, Kerry did mentioned earlier in this show that there is a spectrum represented here, which I think people will start to get a lecture now once they see how long we’ve been abstaining, Sanjay, um, how long have you been alcohol free?

JM Guthrie 33:44
Yeah, so I’m like 540 days or something that was August 20. Some 2021 Coming up in two years, a guy I talked to for a month on a weekly basis, said after when I hit a year like congratulations, but now you got the rest of your life. It continued. That was so true, because I was fighting towards that one year and now it’s the rest of my life. And as cliche as it sounds and as aligned to even the 12 steps as it sounds, it really is a one day process you focus on each day you focus on doing better the next and and so far, so good, pumped about the the two of you being part of this journey with me because certainly it’s been an incredible inspiration. And fortunate as I mentioned, to have, you know, a number of people in my life too that have stopped drinking for a bunch of reasons for a long time, you know, some people 20 years and talk about just the benefits that it’s had for them. Those experiences are invaluable and keep me hungry to keep going. Cool.

Joe Quattrone 34:41
That’s a ladder, I guess you could say and I’ll be celebrating five years.

JM Guthrie 34:45
You are lightweight though we already handled feather waves. Is

Joe Quattrone 34:51
that Joe featherweight July oh, we’re probably talking about like, what is it greater 65 I have times five, or a Batman somewhere in there to 16. Something. I think it’s more than that because you get 65 times five also. So you’re close to 2000, I think. But anyway, so yeah, five years almost. And I don’t. I actually don’t miss it at all one bit at all, there’s nothing I can’t do now that I could do back then, that if anything, there’s just more capacity, more capability, more fun, more social engineering. Even more, that’s why it’s the total. That’s why it’s a total thing. It’s a plus stealing, it’s not a negative feeling L

JM Guthrie 35:33
and think about that for a second, what you just said, Imagine if you could quantify the amount of time that you’ve taken back by not consuming something that literally inebriated your brain. Think about that, over those many years, how many minutes, hours, potentially days, you have gotten back to being a productive person in your personal wellness and society. That’s pretty fucking crazy, right? I mean, it’s amazing. And that’s

Joe Quattrone 36:00
the number one reason why I did it. Because I’m a person that’s pretty aggro about being productive. So I don’t like things that make me unproductive. So I’m probably like you’re on the ladder. I was definitely the lightweight of the crew. But I was definitely grounding everything. Even though I was a lightweight, I was still a gray area consumer of alcohol. I was definitely headed down a pathway that was not sustainable. Carry you are the granddaddy of them all. How long have you been drinking?

Kary Youman 36:35
Just inspiring the heavyweight title. Here he is. I had my last drink on December 26 2011. So that was 4070 days ago. And the only thing I’ll say about that is to what you were saying JM,

36:49
That’s a minute.

Kary Youman 36:51
There’s a couple minutes, man, I just remember growing up like not really seeing a lot of positive examples of people consuming alcohol down the long run. And I know how I was raised, like, I love my family. But there definitely was some toxicity that just came from alcohol influence. And I think for me, like, at 29, like something in my brain just shifted, where it’s like, you know, like, what kind of parent do you want to be like, how do you want to show up? Like, what’s your legacy gonna be? At the end of the day, like if you can find a way to transcend alcohol, like you’re gonna add so much more time to your life. So making that decision, it was tough. It was really tough. But yeah, 11 years later, I have nothing but gratitude. And by far still, when people ask me, What are you most proud of in life?

JM Guthrie 37:35
I just say recovery. Surprised, that ‘s crazy? Isn’t that crazy?

Kary Youman 37:39
I’ve done a lot of things. And that is the thing. Isn’t that crazy, though? And like

JM Guthrie 37:43
that’s that in even that’s like that’s the outlier, right? That’s the thing that people aren’t most proud of, because they’re not able to even do it. And I think that’s the thing that even from some people that were probably my biggest doubters or naysayers through this process, they say, you know, Zach has to grind a big part of our group and a guy that comes from the rest in sort of origin like the rest of us. He said, You know, you were already a good dude. Way, way back for your whole life, you’ve been a good dude. But man, these two years, you’re not only a good dude. But now you’ve been able to do what 99.99999% of people including me are unable to do.

Joe Quattrone 38:29
That’s prolific, right? Like, the reality is this is not easy. And so that’s not a suggestion at all. The suggestion is, here is a group of people. And here is a platform for us all to get a little bit vulnerable about what that really means because of the way that society makes this just a known commodity and part of this world, that hey, maybe there’s a maybe there’s a better way. And maybe there’s a way to think about it differently than the 12 steps that feels more inclusive, is more interesting, because a lot of things where Zach was going with that statement is very real to me, because I think a lot of people spend their entire life trying to figure out how to give back to society in a way that’s authentic to them, and never find out a way to do it. You know, like maybe they’re not people that are overly religious. So they don’t want to volunteer in that way. And maybe they’re not people that are big into philanthropy or don’t know what kind of philanthropy to get into. So they don’t get into it that way. But with this, you ‘ve stumbled across something that’s so core to our essence, that we can do every day. And it’s I think it’s just a little bit upon us to take technology into account and take our potential voice in a movement like this to help as many people as humanly possible.

JM Guthrie 39:49
Yeah, I mean, it’s Carrie said legacy, like what a cool word, right and legacy mean a lot of things for a lot of people and be different in a lot of capacities and the kids part I mentioned earlier certainly part of that to some degree, but legacy is actually leaving the world in a better place. Right? Not just the people that are directly tied to us. And that’s a huge responsibility that I think we’ve found our way into this position to really impact the world in a way that is looking for it. As I mentioned, there’s just not a lot being talked about specific to the life that you can live without alcohol as part of it.

Joe Quattrone 40:28
I fully expect 100 years from now, the history books to say yeah, once upon a time, human civilization did consume things like tobacco and alcohol, but with things like the be total movement that kind of stamped all of that out and ushered a new era of human civilization to the forefront.

JM Guthrie 40:45
Yeah, a more natural way to have this feeling, right. It’s a more natural way to feel the way that people are trying to feel both through mindset as well as you know, if there’s other substances that you choose to consume, you know, we’re not here to judge you on that either. Or we’re here to support you. Alright,

Joe Quattrone 41:05
any last parting sentiments before we wrap up this episode, gents.

Kary Youman 41:12
I’ll just say I’m super stoked to be on this meat total meat total journey with myself, with you all and with the listeners. So yeah, really

Joe Quattrone 41:21
excited to be on this journey, though. The total journey that we’ve started is terrible. All right.

JM Guthrie 41:30
Yeah, I’m super excited to be just able to talk about something that I feel so passionately about in an open and vulnerable fashion. And, you know, I’m hopeful that we can create a community and a foundation for people to feel comfortable to talk about something that doesn’t necessarily feel comfortable today, going back to that sober stigma and other things we’ve talked about today. And if we do that, we’ve really made a difference. And we’ve had success. And whatever comes from that, obviously, we look forward to but AWS really kind of quite are able to quantify the responsibility of that to some degree too, because this is a heavy topic that we’re stepping into.

Joe Quattrone 42:13
All right, folks, it’s calm to be at that time and the show where we talk about me totally in a completely different direction. And because this contingent of folks is really into the feet, heat of it all, what’s going on the lower hemisphere of our bodies. Now we’re going to do a sneaker check. And we’re going to talk about that all important encompassing thing that drives both of this cruise you know, me total lifestyle. So on my feet today, we are featuring the new balance 2002 Rs in the gray on gray. And I’m a very big fan of new balances in general. And I definitely appreciate a wide shoe because I think it lets my tonal flag fly a little bit higher. So Jan, what is riding on your feet today?

JM Guthrie 43:10
What is riding on my feet today are some dunks, SBS

Joe Quattrone 43:17
kind of a darker blue. And how did those dunks make you feel like you’re living in

JM Guthrie 43:22
a lobby we’ve talked about, or we will talk about this more. When I stopped drinking, buying shoes was a big part of what I was up to. So yeah, I mean, shoes are my thing. I love Nike in particular. So you’ll find some J’s or some Nike dunks on my feet most of the time. Check out. Yeah, check stripes, no doubt,

Joe Quattrone 43:43
Kary, What’s riding on your feet these days, or at least for this episode?

Kary Youman 43:47
Yeah, I’m in the home office. So I had to. Yeah, but I just got out of the gym. I got these nobles. I hear it’s a CrossFit shoe. I don’t do much CrossFit, but they’re really good for me in the gym. And I really liked the color palette, people kind of like matching.

Joe Quattrone 44:09
Good stuff. Yeah, I love that. I really feel connected with the floral motif you’ve got going on in the head. That does it for this edition of feet. He meets me totally. And thanks for joining this episode of the Fuzzee-ish podcast. It’s our pleasure to bring you insights from our walk with me totally. And we’d love to hear your stories. Feel free if you’re on YouTube to go ahead and subscribe and click that little bell so you can actually receive notifications from us. And if you’re consuming this podcast from any of the major podcast platforms, go ahead and subscribe and we’d love to hear a rating and review from you at some point. Until next time, I’m Joe patroon. See you later.