Happily married for 7 years to a high-quality woman. She's very attractive and a good earner (dentist). We have a 5 y/o daughter together. This is my second marriage and her first. I've read the books and sidebar material and internalized it over the 3+ years I've been subscribed to MRP. I lift 4 days per week and eat a low carb diet. All good things…except that I drank to excess.

On owning my shit…I've been sober for 40 days and have gained clarity and insight into my marriage. The insight is my weekend binge drinking derailed any progress made during the week. I'd struggle to take one step forward only to stumble two steps back by saying/doing stupid shit while drunk. I thought that I was using STFU to perfection. In reality, I was getting butt-hurt and bottling my feelings up during week. When I unwound with a few libations on the weekend, all of those bottled up feelings came raging to the surface.

I can now see that this habit was the root cause of the disintegration of my first marriage and was well on its way to killing another. I would apologize for my bad behavior, using alcohol as the scapegoat but the only person I was fooling was myself. This cycle of abuse has been ongoing for 20 years.

I am now dealing with life as it comes. STFU is a strong principle when I keep in mind that feelings are just feelings…they are neither good nor bad. It's what I choose to do with those feelings that can have a positive or negative impact. Choice is an all-powerful tool. I may not be able to control many of the things that happen to me, however, I can always control my reaction. By choosing to react in a positive way, I am now truly leading by example. MRP philosophy becomes more manageable through my sobriety.