365 Days

This seems like an appropriate time for me to offer my continued gratitude to all of the rad people in my life. I've learned a lot over the last year, today marking exactly one year of continued sobriety for me. One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that its the people you surround yourself with that will help you get through the gnarly stuff in your life. Getting sober meant a lot of changes and difficult decisions for me and one of the decisions I've made is simply to not allow negativity in my life. It just isn't worth the effort to deal with negative people or situations, that time could just as easily be invested in creating positive change. I've made a conscious decision to surround myself with outstanding people and it has had a incredibly positive impact on my life.

I'm forever grateful to be blessed with those outstanding people that I have had by my side through all of this. I know I've said it before on here, but there is absolutely not a better group of friends on the planet than the guys I consider my brothers. They never gave up and supported me through times when it would have been much easier for them to walk away, especially considering all that I put them through. I could not be sober today if it weren't for them. Thank you Nightmares. My family has been by my side and proud of me ever since I started this journey. They were there to pick me up when I was at my lowest and cheered me on as every new milestone was reached. I couldn't be happier for how close I am with them today.

I remember being so worried when I first got sober that I wouldn't be able to deal with the day to day stresses of life without the release of alcohol. As it turns out, alcohol was the cause of most of those day to day stresses, whoulda thunk it. I still get stressed out, still have to deal with heavy shit, but I've just come to realize that nothing that happens means so much that you should lose your head over it. I've learned that life is a lot easier lived if you're just a little bit more laid back and easy going about things, more like a kid really. The sun will indeed come up tomorrow, life will go on. Take a deep breath and just try to put a smile on your face. Make a bad joke, fart in public, whatever blows your skirt up.

All of this may sound very cheerful and what not, but it wasn't easy to get here, it took a lot of hard work, a lot of sweat and a lot of tears. By no means was I always such a positive guy, hell, for a long time I wasn't a very nice guy at all and that sucks, I have a lot of regrets. The only thing I can do about that now is try to be a better person in the future and not let my past hold me back but instead learn from it. All in all, I'm happy with both the new and repaired relationships in my life right now. I'm proud of where I'm at today, especially if you compare it to just a couple of short years ago, and I look forward to what the future holds. Hell, not only am I closer to the friends that were by my side through all of this but I've got tons of great new friendships through being sober (and a bunch of them are really beautiful chicks, yeah buddy!).

Now that you've read all of this and you're all like "oh, that guy is such a tool!" that's fine, I don't mind, just remember these two final things; always do what makes you happy in life as long as you're not hurting anyone else and (most importantly) always shift in front of girls, always.

I love you all. Say hello to your mother for me,

J.