I was happily reading when my mind started to wander, the words triggered a thought, that quickly turned into something profound. When this happens, I get a strange awakening feeling. I raise my eyes up and look left. I think this helps my desperate grasp to retain the ideas as it floats away. As I closed the book, chasing this feeling, I lost it. I totally lost what it was. I knew this idea to be interesting, exciting perhaps even life changing – but it was gone. I quickly scrambled back to page 50, and began to carefully read the words, in the hope it would set me off again. I snaked down the page, hurriedly trying to clear my mind, with the hope of picking up the subtle clues. Like a flash I had it. Quickly noting it down before it slipped through my fingers.
The secret to a healthy, happy life is through our tribes.
Only last week I started an experiment and joined a Vegan tribe. For the last 7 days, I had been telling people that I was a vegan. Along with my reasons for being a vegan and all about the trials I had faced. It felt good to say it out loud, what started as a whisper, escalated to a full on – I AM A VEGAN.
In order to be a ‘vegan’ I aligned with the tribes principles from a dietary perspective. Avoiding all animal produce from meat to dairy. This made my world simpler. When I look at a menu I don’t have to use conscious control to avoid food not on the vegan list. I had become a vegan overnight, a cream cake was no longer a temptation I should avoid, it was simply not an option. To eat it would mean disowning my tribe. Vegans don’t do cream cakes.
This is profound, that almost overnight I was seeing the world through a new lens. Last week the mere sight of a cream cake would have turned into a major test of will. Some I win, most I lose in this battle of temptation. Now all of a sudden it was not an issue. Isn’t that amazing. How quickly my brain had aligned with my new tribes ethics.
The point is not about becoming a vegan, it is how quickly this changed my internal and then external view of the world. Cream cakes are still everywhere, but as if by magic, they had fallen off my radar. How amazing is that! All I did was join this imaginary tribe. There is no vegan headquarters, or passports I just liked the idea of trying it.
Our brains want a simple life
The more they can leave to habit and routine the better. Aligning with a tribe stops you having to weigh up the good and bad in any situation. I am a non-drinker, I am part of the OYNB tribe, so drinking alcohol is not on my radar, to drink the pint would mean casting my identity aside. This is a powerful motivator.
When we align with the right tribe and its rules, we take out tonnes of temptation in one hit. When you walk into a bar as part of a non-drinking tribe, the vast array of alcoholic drinks are not on your radar. You don’t have to use willpower to resist, it is simply not part of the equation. You are part of a tribe that does not drink alcohol and why let the group down. Your brain loves the ease by which it can now select an option from the non-alcoholic range so it does exactly that. Job done.
The internet has made tribes accessible to the world. Why not look at your challenges, find a tribe that matches and join them.
If you want to quit the booze, then unlock the power of tribes and join ours today.
An entrepreneur and former senior oil broker, Ruari gave up drinking after excessive consumption almost cost him his marriage, and worse, his life. Going alcohol-free improved his relationships, career and energy levels, leading to him founding OYNB to provide a support network for others.
