Even after I managed to remain sober a few weeks, it seemed my addiction, or unconscious mind, began to convince me that I could have just one drink, and I often listened. The problem was that 1 drink was too many and 10,000 wasn’t enough. How the heck does that work? How could things come to this? Had my best friend alcohol had turned against me? I began to realize I had no control over alcohol which was a devastating concept to grasp. What happened when I made the steadfast decision to quit drinking over and over? Well, the short answer is my unconscious brain never got the memo. I realize this now, but when I was trying to quit drinking, it was the most exhausting time of my life.

I created the Recovery Elevator podcast to create accountability. Looking back, it was a risky endeavor, but it paid off. I took my last drink on September 6th, 2014. The idea for the private accountability groups came to me after I was unable to find one in August of 2014. At 1:55 am, while experiencing an intense craving, I searched for an online recovery support group with little success. What I did find was a Bud Light Lime sponsored advertisement on Facebook. I had 5 minutes to get dressed, drive to the gas station and take a guess what I purchased. I was drinking at 2:01 am. So I decided to start my own accountability groups which have evolved into Café RE with over 1,000 members from all over the world.

Paul Churchill was a normal drinker in high school and most of college. He loved to drink. He played several sports in high school and played football at Chapman University where he majored in Business and Spanish. His love for alcohol led him to Granada, Spain where he bought a bar in January 2006. He walked away from the bar after 34 months since he was drowning himself with alcohol. He attempted the geographical cure, moved back home in Colorado for a year, and then went to graduate school in Seattle at the University of Washington. He then moved to beautiful Bozeman, MT where he currently resides. Paul was alcohol-free from 2010- 2012 but he looks back at that duration of sobriety and says he was a dry drunk and was staying away from alcohol on will power alone. In 2012, his unconscious mind got the best of him and he drank after being AF over 2 years. Later that same evening around 2:30 am when gas stations couldn’t legally sell alcohol, Paul found himself googling if he could drink rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Talk about picking up right where he left off. Paul struggled to quit drinking for another couple years until September 7th, 2014. In the summer of 2014, there was a DUI, release of employment from a job, and a failed suicide attempt. After reaching out to family, specific friends, starting a podcast, a sobriety counter app, selecting a sponsor, eating right, and exercising, Paul Churchill took his last drink of alcohol on September 7th, 2014 and got his life back.

“I was one of the lucky ones. 5% of people who make the decision to quit drinking, make it to 90 days, and then 5% of the people who make it to 90 days make 2 years. 5% of 5% of people make it to two years. I could not have done it alone and I’ve had countless support from so many. I’m so glad I found out that alcohol that was causing the pain and discomfort in my life. Quitting drinking wasn’t easy, but the life I have now is exponentially better. Alcohol would have claimed my life if I continued to drink. The crazy part is my life continues to improve the longer I stay away from alcohol. Quitting drinking was the one domino that knocked all the others down.”



-Paul Churchill