Nov 16, 2018 | By Tim Stoddart
John Mayer Has Two Years Sober, Thanks to Drake.
Addiction & Recovery News
Hit-maker, lady-killer, jokester, and most recently front-man of Dead & Company, John Mayer has revealed a new light of himself – and we’re stunned.
In a lengthy interview with Complex magazine, the Grammy winning musician talks about his decision to abstain from alcohol for over two years. Bragging that he had the “most amazing” story about his last day of drinking, and admits it was after Drake’s 30th birthday party a few years ago that he decided to stop.
“It was Drake’s 30th birthday party,” Mayer said, “And I made quite a fool of myself.”
He noted that on the sixth day of the post-Drake-hangover. That’s a SIX day hangover – he had a realization.
“What Percentage Of Your Potential Would You Like To Have?”
“I looked out the window and I went, ‘OK, John, what percentage of your potential would you like to have? Because if you say you’d like 60, and you’d like to spend the other 40 having fun, that’s fine. But what percentage of what is available to you would you like to make happen? There’s no wrong answer. What is it?’ I went, ‘100.’”
Mayer, who recently started his own Instagram TV show on Sunday night called Current Mood, noted in an episode that the pressures of social media can also make sobriety a challenge.
“What if I woke up every morning on Saturday and Sunday and put my feet on the ground and I just went, ‘Not hungover!’ And put it on social media every day,” he continued. “You forget that’s an option.”
“It is the most personal thing to people,” Mayer said, regarding how he was able to quit drinking. “Try talking to someone else about drinking. Try talking to someone else about how you haven’t had a drink in two years and watch what happens to them. It is just so particular to your own spirit and psychology that it’s almost impossible to develop one way of explaining it to someone else. You have to fight really hard to look at it from a critical point of view because it’s constantly pushed on you. Every Friday and Saturday on social media there is enabling that is going on for drinking.”
“Boredom” With Sobriety
Confessing that at first he felt “boredom” with his sobriety, he adds that he then ended up getting down about his situation.
“You’re like, ‘Oh, I’m not having these high highs.’ But if you work, you can bring the whole line up,” he says. “We’re at the sweet spot of concentrating on being better than most people at the thing that we do and just appreciating the act of that and being like, ‘I’m still young enough to do it…’ I have so many more records. I just figured out how to make them without going crazy.”
“I Get Another One Of These”
The interview also shed light on John’s new lease on life – especially after the late passing of friend and rapper, Mac Miller. “Every morning I wake up and go: “I get another one of these,” he said, referring to days. “Most people figure that out much later on in life. Not drinking has a lot to do with plugging into that a little earlier than other people,” he added.
He also noted about the late singer, who he wished learned the same lessons before he died of an overdose on Sept. 7. “I just wish it wasn’t fatal. I just wish figuring out your life didn’t take your life away from you.”
Since giving up drinking, John has been more a busy guy. The singer has embarked on four tours since the pivotal day, and even plays in multiple bands including Dead & Company with original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann.
Congrats to John for putting his party boy days in the past! We couldn’t be more proud, and thanks to Drake for turning 30!
