Confession 1- This will be the first of many…… & p.s. my blog has a new name

SCANDAL…….. My So-Called Sober Life has disappeared!

Don’t worry my faithful followers, (all 4 of you) no no, I have not had a sip of the devil’s drink. Still 3 months and counting, 110 days to be exact, until I can crack open a beer or sip on a martini! But gone are the days of  My So-Called Sober Life and my fun ‘[insert # of days left here] (empty) bottles of beer on the wall’ titles. Thanks for all your support, but don’t stop reading because my blog is going to be even better!!!!

Why the change? Well my last legitimate confession in an actual church was probably over 15 years ago, so let’s just say I have a lot to get off my chest.

Plus it comes down to this notion that in my eyes I was becoming this whiny baby about my social life changing. Was that really a surprise to anyone? Was that really that interesting to any of you?

 

My initial promise was to deliver my “journey”, which much like like Anna Wintour, I am so over that term; so much so that I wasn’t delivering on that initial (lame) promise. My posts dwindled, and my material was running dry. When I went to sit and write all I could thing of was how not drinking affected my social life, and really, who. the. f***. cares!

What I was failing to share was that I switched out one social life for a completely different (and exciting) social life. One that did not involve tandem of Saturday/Sunday morning hangovers!  Now those Saturday/Sundays mornings, afternoons, and evenings are filled with activity, mindfulness, reading, exercise (boo), homework (double boo), learning, etc etc etc. I was so focused on thinking my friends were excluding me, and lets be honest some of my opinions did that for me, that I wasn’t focusing on (or sharing) any of the great things that were happening in my alcohol-free life including the awesome life lessons I was learning!

So why is this new social life more compelling than the other and why should you continue to read?

One word: Lifestyle

Although I was focusing on my life, in a way, I was being a bit selfish and a bit of a show off — ‘Ooooohhhh look at me I’m not drinking, aren’t I amazing??!!’ Sure, I am proud of myself for making this commitment and sticking to it, but why brag about that. You could watch Kanye West on that terrible show on E! if you wanted to watch 24/7 bragging.

I’ve flipped it around now and want to talk about lifestyle.

I want to share and write about my lifestyle that pulls from my passion for fashion (yeah I did 😛 ) and my lifelong struggle to be healthy and happy. For a deeper understanding check out My BIG Confession.

Lifestyle “reporting” has been around prior to the printing of the first newspaper. I mean one could feasibly argue that cave drawings to a certain extent were communicating a certain way to live aka lifestyle, back in the days of saber-toothed tigers and wooly-mammoths. In modern times with newspapers the lifestyle section was never the leading section. It was most likely buried behind world-news, sports, and finance. But many would agree that the Lifestyle section evolved for the sheer enjoyment and betterment of individuals who dare to focus on themselves, who dare to defy norms, who dare to try something different, something new, something exciting!

I’d be remiss to not disclose that part of this motivation also stems from a class I am enrolled in this fall semester at Harvard Extension- Social Media Analytics, which inherently requires me to work on a blog. But instead of starting from scratch and throwing away the past 9 rewarding months I’m using this as an opportunity to re-launch my blog and commit to this passion to share my lifestyle, and the lifestyles of others to help you the reader feel inspired and develop a unique one of your own.

I’m excited to start this new direction too because there isn’t anything else out there like it or if there is I certainly bring a different flavor, much like the classic Neapolitan ice cream.

• A chubby guy blogging about health & fitness plans that work for him and sharing progress! (vanilla?)
• A stocky bloke providing fashion advice for other stocky blokes who just want to feel good and more importantly confident in their appearance? SPOILER ALERT: some of it’s about embracing your size! (chocolate??)
• A homo who is smarter than the average bear, sophisticated enough if you will, to understand that there is more to life to blog about than health and haberdashery who will certainly point out things you ‘need to know!’ or might be interested in knowing.  (strawberry??!)

Is anyone hungry all of a sudden??!!

I look to celebrities like Martha Stewart (lifestyle queen), Bob Harper (Biggest Loser), Oprah Winfrey (seriously?), Louis C.K. (comedian) and Tom Ford (designer and dreamboat) for inspiration, motivation, and affirmation that I am doing the right thing for me. I’m thrilled to also grow my network by exploring other like-minded individuals outside of the celebrity stratosphere willing to share their experience and expertise. What’s in it for me is a gateway of information and perspective I never knew existed, and in return I open that gateway to you. I am not re-inventing the wheel or the blog, but I definitely know that my unique perspective is shared by more than most guys are probably willing to admit.

I must confess……… that I could not be happier to find a new avenue to steer my blog, evolving from my baby blog about not drinking to one that enriches me from head to toe.