2023 has not been a great year. Well, who am I kidding? It was, for many reasons, one of the worst years on record in my own life. Yet, maybe because of all the negativity and heartache, I was allowed to prove myself. To show that I have learned something over the last ten years of sobriety and continuous self-improvement. My resolve was truly tested, and ultimately, 2023 sometimes felt like two steps back before you could move one step ahead.

It is said that 80% of success is showing up. Through perseverance and dogged resilience, I was allowed to go from strength to strength even when people questioned my sanity. Why are you doing all this work?
When you are going through hell, keep going. Financial pressures continued throughout 2023, but I persevered by taking it one day at a time. I had to make hay during the daytime when the sun shone.
Creatively, I had the privilege of interviewing 104 amazing guests on my show. That translated into 104 fun-filled, mind-blowing, eye-opening therapy sessions, for which I am grateful to all my guests. My show transformed from MY STEPS TO SOBRIETY to NEFF INSPIRATION. Simply speaking, I have outgrown the sobriety and addiction field. Whilst my focus on mental health will always be strong, there is far more to living to the fullest. Both as a doctor and as a mental health advocate, I often found myself more like the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff rather than the man who is building a fence at the top. To give you some examples about my own transformation:

In January 2023, I therefore embarked on a learning journey into the field of functional medicine. I became increasingly curious about how our bodies work. Many of the models of allopathic medicine which were part of my younger doctor years have now been shown to be oversimplistic. Over the last ten years, there has been an explosion of research and insights into the complexity of the human body, and gone are the days when a set of signs and symptoms automatically deserves a pill. Nowadays, we realize the enormous impact of a healthy lifestyle on the generation and, in fact, the resolution of symptoms and diseases. With 80% of medical complaints directly related to nutrition, we now have powerful tools to create ever-lasting change. The saying “Food Is Medicine” has never been more correct.

2023 also saw me increasingly fascinated by the power of our breath. As a young martial arts student, I have learned the basics of breathwork many decades ago. However, I had barely scratched the surface, and it was time to put my money where my mouth was (pun intended). With the help of Lucas from YogaBody, I took a deep dive into the power of breathing exercises. I learned about fire breathing exercises to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, water breathing to give us balance, and whisky breathing exercises that encourage our parasympathetic nervous system to heal and rejuvenate our body.
A truly fantastic experience.

Finally, issues lie in the tissues! The body keeps a score. They say, “My body is my temple”. In my case, it is just a very ancient crumbling one that is probably cursed and harbouring some yet-to-be-seen unspeakable horror.
Fun aside, there is no doubt that I have burned that candle on both ends in the past. And since I had more than my fair share of trauma, it became clear to me that I needed to work on my body to release some of those memories that were likely holding me back.
So, what better to do than become a flexibility coach? I am far from turning myself into a pretzel, but that is not the purpose of this endeavour. By combining strength training, flexibility exercises and aerobic workouts I plan on increasing my healthspan, if not my lifespan.
Move the way you were made – NOT the way you’ve decayed.

I don’t know what challenges 2024 has in store for me. No doubt, there will be tears. But there will also be triumphs. By the end of this year, I will complete my Functional Medicine training, be a trapeze yoga coach, bike 1461 km and swim 120.8 km. After all, SMART goals are exact and to the point!

How? With perseverance and trust in myself. By being aware of procrastination and fighting it every inch of the way. By allowing my body time to heal and rejuvenate. By learning more about myself at every opportunity. By continuing to surround myself with people who know more than me. By being the dumbest person in my power-team.

What will your 2024 bring?