Man who drank again after 322 days sober explains traumatic reason he started drinking in the first place

A man who went viral after sharing his sobriety story has explained why he began drinking in the first place.

After making the decision to kick the booze back in 2023, personal trainer Dan Hancock decided to test his relationship with alcohol after 322 days sober, and see if he would be able to enjoy a beer or two without falling completely off the wagon.

"I have proven to myself that I have an on/off switch, I now can go and enjoy nights out sober," he said. "So therefore, I should be able to go out and have one drink or two drinks."

However, Dan's experiment would unfortunately backfire, as the fitness enthusiast found himself spiralling back into old habits.

"I literally went back in time to the worst version of myself from six years before," he added. "I became that person again. Like that."

The trainer - who goes by The Mental Health PT online - was able to take a positive from the situation, and realised that a sober life was the one for him and, a year on from the original post, he remains alcohol-free, saying the decision left him as 'healthy and happy as I’ve ever been'.

The instructor has also spoken candidly about what led him to pick up the bottle in the first place, revealing how an assault as a teenager changed his life forever.

"When I was 16 I was seriously assaulted," he wrote on Instagram, explaining how the attack had happened after he'd attempted to split up a fight.

With cracked ribs and a fractured eye socket, Dan was unable to play sports and 'went off the rails'.

"I started drinking a lot, stopped going to school," he wrote. The attack also left him with lingering body hangups, wanting to make himself as strong and as fast as physically possible, but not fully understanding why.

"I didn't know why I was unhappy and why I felt I the need to change my body shape," he continued.

"I just knew that part of my identity was stolen with that first blow."

It wasn't until Dan started going to the gym regularly once again that he learnt to face his 'demons', and fully understand his need to be physically fit.

"Rather than running away from our emotions, exercise allows you to explore them."

He concluded the post by urging to followers to prioritise exercise which makes them 'feel' a certain way, rather than hitting the gym purely out of concern for how we look.

"Lifting weights for emotional regulation will change your life more than lifting weights for fat loss ever will," he added.