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Ruari Fairbairns is the co-founder and CEO of One Year No Beer, a global alcohol prevention program, aimed at anyone drinking more than 3 glasses of wine a week. Originally from a small island off the West coast of Scotland, in his younger years, he was no stranger to a pint or two. After moving down to London and starting a career as an oil broker, he quickly fell into the ‘work hard, play hard’ style of living.

After meeting his wife, and having a child, his old ways started to wear thin and create friction in relationships as well as cause me a few health problems. Reluctant to blame alcohol for any of these issues, he took an anger management programme where he quickly learned that coffee and alcohol are the two biggest instigators of anger. After reading this, I decided to drop them for the length of the programme (90 days) and that is when everything changed.

Happier, healthier and fitter for being 90 days alcohol and caffeine free, he realised that no one was championing the benefits of abstaining from alcohol – but instead, all of the focus was on how bad drinking was for you. That is when he decided to set up One Year No Beer, a toolkit for surviving modern society alcohol-free.

I absolutely love my current role because every day I get the opportunity to help people and I genuinely believe that this is what I was put on this earth to do. Changing my own relationship with alcohol was the starting point for my journey with OYNB, because this allowed me to create space in my life, to find my true meaning and purpose. I couldn’t believe how much happier and healthier and fitter I felt. It has opened up an incredible life for myself and my family – one of meaning, purpose and ‘healthy’ socialising. One my kids will be proud of and my wife loves being part of.

(Michael Hanson is the host of the COSMIC Bridge podcast that inspires its listeners to find their higher purpose and connect their material and spiritual life through stories of breathwork teachers, shamans and stroke survivors. He is also the CEO of Growth Genie, an international B2B sales consultancy)