{"id":1189,"date":"2013-04-21T22:46:16","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T02:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/?p=1189"},"modified":"2020-07-11T15:48:13","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T19:48:13","slug":"on-a-year-of-sobriety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/04\/21\/on-a-year-of-sobriety\/","title":{"rendered":"On a year of sobriety"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/30654084@N00\/5883641248\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured\" title=\"Glass empty\" alt=\"Glass empty\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/5883641248_5788433eaf.jpg?w=250&#038;ssl=1\"  \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Glass empty (Photo credit: lemasney)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I am marking a very special anniversary here. On April 19th, 2012, I stopped drinking alcohol, and since then, I&#8217;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:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 15px;\">I regained focus on my nutritional lifestyle, began walking everyday, tracked my calories, and lost 100 pounds.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>I left Princeton University, and started to focus on LeMasney Consulting as my main income.<\/li>\n<li>I finalized my divorce, increased the time that I saw my boys each week, and greatly simplified my life, means, and ways.<\/li>\n<li>I finished <a title=\"http:\/\/365sketches.org\" href=\"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/365sketches.org<\/a>, started <a title=\"http:\/\/lemasney.com\" href=\"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/lemasney.com<\/a>, and migrated most of my active blogging to <a title=\"http:\/\/lemasney.com\" href=\"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/lemasney.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>It&#8217;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\u00a0you for helping me to find a different way.<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"zemanta-related-title\" style=\"font-size: 1em;\">Related articles<\/h6>\n<ul class=\"zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image\" style=\"margin: 0; padding: 0; overflow: hidden;\">\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li\" style=\"padding: 0; background: none; list-style: none; display: block; float: left; vertical-align: top; text-align: left; width: 84px; font-size: 11px; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px;\"><a style=\"box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; padding: 2px; display: block; border-radius: 2px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/03\/07\/on-life-changes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; border: 0; display: block; width: 80px; max-width: 100%;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/150718227_80_80.jpg?w=1170&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><a style=\"display: block; 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overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; line-height: 12pt; height: 80px; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px;\" href=\"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/03\/15\/an-omelette-florentine-sandwich-recipe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">An Omelette Florentine sandwich recipe<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li\" style=\"padding: 0; background: none; list-style: none; display: block; float: left; vertical-align: top; text-align: left; width: 84px; font-size: 11px; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px;\"><a style=\"box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; padding: 2px; display: block; border-radius: 2px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/04\/16\/tonight-infographics-at-ppl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; border: 0; display: block; width: 80px; max-width: 100%;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/160623281_80_80.jpg?w=1170&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><a style=\"display: block; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; line-height: 12pt; height: 80px; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px;\" href=\"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/04\/16\/tonight-infographics-at-ppl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tonight: Infographics at PPL<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" style=\"border: none; float: right;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pixy18.gif?w=1170&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am marking a very special anniversary here. On April 19th, 2012, I stopped drinking alcohol, and since then, I&#8217;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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3653],"tags":[3870,562,671,914],"class_list":{"0":"post-1189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-insights","8":"tag-john-lemasney","9":"tag-new-jersey","10":"tag-princeton-university","11":"tag-wikipedia","12":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pixy18.gif?fit=1%2C1&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3h6y2-jb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1164,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2012\/10\/19\/on-six-months-of-sobriety-and-nutritional-awareness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":0},"title":"On six months of sobriety and nutritional awareness","author":"lemsy","date":"2012-10-19","format":false,"excerpt":"I just wanted to leave this note to say thank you to all the wonderful people who have helped me to celebrate these last six months of sobriety, and that it has been a genuinely great start to the rest of my life, whatever that may bring.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;insights&quot;","block_context":{"text":"insights","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Losing Weight: John LeMasney after picture","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bodyshot.jpg?fit=960%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bodyshot.jpg?fit=960%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bodyshot.jpg?fit=960%2C960&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bodyshot.jpg?fit=960%2C960&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":802,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/03\/07\/on-life-changes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":1},"title":"On life changes.","author":"lemsy","date":"2013-03-07","format":false,"excerpt":"So in this post, I want to talk a bit about the stresses of modern life, and a possible antidote. I just lost my job of two years at Princeton University. It was a glorious opportunity, but it was not for me. There were certain skills that particular job required\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;insights&quot;","block_context":{"text":"insights","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"lemasney consulting","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/lemasney-consulting.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42137,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2015\/06\/15\/the-story-of-the-maple-seeds-at-the-2015-princeton-parklet\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":2},"title":"The Story of the Maple Seeds at the 2015 Princeton Parklet","author":"lemsy","date":"2015-06-15","format":false,"excerpt":"The story of the maple seed hanging sculptures that are a part of the 2015 Princeton Parklet is a very interesting one, and I thought I'd share it as a way of thanking everyone involved in their creation. But first, some definitions.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;brand&quot;","block_context":{"text":"brand","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/brand\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Story of the 2015 Princeton Parklet Maple Seeds","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/princetonparklwt__maple__seeds.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/princetonparklwt__maple__seeds.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/princetonparklwt__maple__seeds.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":333,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2012\/06\/23\/a-reflection-of-my-progress-so-far\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":3},"title":"A reflection of my progress so far&#8230;","author":"lemsy","date":"2012-06-23","format":false,"excerpt":"I had my 39th birthday yesterday. It was a very good one. I'm on my way to physio-mental health. Evidence of\u00a0the physical part is above, but let me\u00a0explain the physio-mental part here. In the time between March 2011 and March 2012, a lot happened. I had several overlapping personal crises,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;insights&quot;","block_context":{"text":"insights","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"weight loss since april","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/weight-loss-since-april.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/03\/18\/wordpress-google-plus-libraries-and-waveforms\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":4},"title":"WordPress, Google Plus, Libraries and Waveforms","author":"lemsy","date":"2013-03-18","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 This week\u00a0will be an interesting one! \u00a0 Tonight, March 18th, 2013 at Princeton Public Library at 7:30 pm, I'm giving the second part of a two-part WordPress Camp, in which I show people how to get started with WordPress. There's a rumor that we will be having a Food\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;curriculum vitae&quot;","block_context":{"text":"curriculum vitae","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/cv\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Elf in a santa hat by John LeMasney via lemasney.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/20091223.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/20091223.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/20091223.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/20091223.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6150,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2012\/11\/05\/20121105\/","url_meta":{"origin":1189,"position":5},"title":"20121105: TMBG in Princeton","author":"lemsy","date":"2012-11-05","format":false,"excerpt":"So it was around this time last year that I got approached to do a promotional design for the April 2012 visit by They Might Be Giants to Princeton. I was really excited about it, and as it turns out, I was terribly sick at the time of the visit.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;portfolio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/portfolio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"20121105: TMBG in Princeton last April was going to be mind-numbingly awesome. ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/20111105.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46174,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions\/46174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}