Mid-week Check In

260 Chain-Breakers, New Reads, and a Look Ahead to My Alcohol-Free Journey

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Mid-Week Check-In – The Unshackled Journal
260 Chain-Breakers, New Reads, and a Year Alcohol-Free!

Hi Chain-Breakers,

We’re now cruising with 260 of you on board… how good is that?! I just wanted to take a moment to properly welcome all the new faces and give you a quick steer through the Journal.

There’s a solid body of work building here now, and to really get a feel for what this space is all about, here are a few cornerstone pieces I’d love you to have a read of:

🔗 Detention By Decree (Parts 1 & 2)
The why and how behind my Immigration Detainment. Raw, honest, and essential context.
(Part 2 is here)

😭 Big Boys Do Cry
A deep dive into masculinity, emotional honesty, and the strength in vulnerability. Bring tissues.

🎮 Just Press Play
All about decision fatigue, overthinking, and the beauty of living in the moment. A love letter to simplicity.

✈️ 🍻 🎄 Planes, Pints & Christmas Miracles
A chaotic tale full of laughs, near-misses, and festive madness. Think Irish heart meets Aussie chaos.

🛡️🔥 Relentless Resilience
What it really means to be resilient… less heroics, more showing up when it’s hard.

📺 Adolescence
If you were touched by the TV show of the same name, give this one a read. It peels back the layers of youth, identity, and missed guidance… and might just hit close to home.

This Sunday, I’ll be marking one full year alcohol-free. I’m extremely proud of that, considering my circumstances, my past struggles with Alcohol Use Disorder, and how easy it could have been to rely on alcohol as a crutch whilst I’m going through so much mental hardship. So, the next edition will take a long, honest look at:

🍷➡️❌ Alcohol in society—Why is it still seen as ‘uncool’ not to drink?
💭 Addiction and the darkness that hides in plain sight—The mistakes that are made and the shame that follows.
🌱 The rise of the sober-curious movement—And what freedom really tastes like.

If you’re enjoying what you’re reading each week and want to support the journey, I’ve just added a shout me a coffee link below ☕ (and no, it’s not an Irish one… no whiskey in this cup! 😉)

… a small gesture that makes a big difference. And of course, there’s always the option to upgrade to a paid subscription if you’d like to back the work a little more regularly.

No pressure. Just appreciation, always.

Stay Unshackled, My Friends.

Stephen