On a year of sobriety

Glass empty (Photo credit: lemasney)

I am marking a very special anniversary here. On April 19th, 2012, I stopped drinking alcohol, and since then, I’ve learned how to live again. On Friday, April 19th, 2013, I noted one year of sobriety, and a lot has happened. Here are some of the highlights of what happened during that time:

I regained focus on my nutritional lifestyle, began walking everyday, tracked my calories, and lost 100 pounds.
I discovered many instances of who was important to keep near me for support, and who I had to remove myself from. If you are reading this, chances are you are in the support column.
I left Princeton University, and started to focus on LeMasney Consulting as my main income.
I finalized my divorce, increased the time that I saw my boys each week, and greatly simplified my life, means, and ways.
I finished http://365sketches.org, started http://lemasney.com, and migrated most of my active blogging to http://lemasney.com

It’s no coincidence, at least not for me. Alcohol affected my drive, focus, and will. It allowed me to not care about the things and ideas that hurt, which allowed me to also not care about the damage I was doing to myself in obesity, alcoholism, and self-deprecation. Perhaps most importantly, alcohol affected my self-worth, pride, and self-respect to the point that I did not care how either I regarded myself, or how others regarded me. All of that has changed, and I thank you for helping me to find a different way.