My year without alcohol  

Today is my one year soberiversary.  Let me tell you more and how I came to this lifestyle change.  This is only a slice of the story intended to bring you up to speed of my experience and what triggered this decision. I thank you for taking the time to read and hope that if anything it helps you find your own strength to make a much needed change no matter what that is.   

Leading up to my decision to abstain from alcohol, I took a few months to really dig into my habits after a very traumatic experience. I noticed what I was doing, who I was spending time with and how I felt after drinking. I was liking it less and less all the time.  The hangovers, wasted money, late nights, questionable sexual partners and after parties were far too common in my life. But why? For the most part, I had a good life with my kids, fully self employed, had what I thought were good friends and I had my “Shit together”....... But did I?  

 It kept crossing my mind. So let me share with you one reflection after going out was this.  I wasn’t sad or celebrating anything. It was just a Friday night with nothing to do. I had a bottle of wine at home and then got the urge to be around people so I cabbed uptown to a bar, had two drinks and was hit on by an ugly weird guy so I left and went to get food of course. It was two slices of pizza and a poutine. The next day I woke up, hungover feeling like absolute trash. I noticed a bunch of food left over and also checked my bank account. I had over tipped the cabbie by mistake by $12.99 and when I did the running total of the night with cigarettes included it added up to about $80!  What the hell?  I did this a few times a month and not to mention the random nights at home that I’d be sipping while hanging with friends or writing grants or songs so add 10-20 per night when that happened.  Something hit me after those calculations.  I realized that when my kids asked for something that was say, $15.00 I’d say “oh no I can’t afford that”  But somehow I made myself afford a night of NOTHING for $80?  I felt like the worst parent ever and a liar.  That's not me!! Also I was starting to have far more fuzzy nights where I couldn’t remember what had happened and wondered why I hurt. Friends would tell me how I fell down because I drank too much and I was getting increasingly emotional during those times. That wasn’t a good thing at all. Something needed to change.   

I am hard pressed to label myself as an alcoholic but if I’m being honest I did experience alcohol abuse and habits that were costing me in more ways than money.  

Over the summer and early fall I was digging into what was really happening.  Although it seemed harmless because I didn’t drink every day and my bills were paid but my underlying issues were presenting themselves far too often.  In the past 25 years since I started indulging in alcohol I had mostly been a happy social drinker, party girl and the bubbly outgoing fun social butterfly to drink with. Not afraid of anything after a few drinks and was totally a YES girl. It was rare that I lost my shit or didn’t remember anything (Except for that time that I drank 3 shots of Absinthe at Jessy and Pete's Christmas party and had no clue what was happening!). Mostly I was a good time.  

Looking back I’d say over the past 8 years a compounded problem was  creeping up on me.  It was the people I surrounded myself with, bad habits and unhealed trauma that were keeping me in a holding pattern. As I looked back at who I spent the most time with, how I spent that time and the situations that caused me pain I realized that I had some major healing to do.  Two toxic emotionally abusive relationships, my dad almost dying, toxic codependent friendships and self sabotage needed some healing attention.   

The months leading up to quitting drinking were important to see the holding pattern I was in.  Then one day I was on facebook and saw a post from my musician friend Vanessa whom I met in 2018 in the hotel we were both staying at after our shows for Canada Day in Fredericton.  Well on October 8th  of 2019 she posted about her “Soberiversary” and I immediately messaged her and asked how she did it and told her I had been really thinking about cutting it from my life.  She called me and we had a great chat about our experiences.  Especially being musicians and exposed to so much alcohol over the years!  Our convo became the one thing that helped me to pick a date and give it up.  I chose Thanksgiving as my date.  October 14th to be exact. She was so excited for me.  It was incredible. I didn’t have any friends who were excited for me not to drink! Wow!   

So over the next week I mentally prepped to give it up.  I went to Fredericton for the weekend and spent time with family and friends for the holiday weekend.  Then when I came back on Sunday I planned to get drunk…..this was going to be my last hurra for a while. There was an open mic at McGills so that's where I was going to go get silly and sing songs.  We closed the bar, I went to an afterparty and at 4am it was time to go home. I called a cab, crawled into bed and slept.  I woke up with a gross hangover and felt every single part of it.  The headache, the tired sluggish feeling, the craving crappy food, the overall BLAH!  I wanted to because I needed to really take note of how I DIDN”T want to feel.   

When I made the decision I honestly didn’t know if I’d give it up for a week, a month, a year or forever.  Now here I am one year later with ZERO desire to drink again.  I have no good reason to.  I really dug into my healing though lots of counseling, life coaching and self help. I took care of my physical and mental health better than I ever had in my life.  I also quit smoking 3 months after giving up drinking.  My vocal health is so much better and some of my voice issues corrected themselves since.  My musical life over all has improved over all too and I’ve been focusing on my new record so much!  I’ve lost weight, look better and feel better now than I have in years.  

I no longer crave a weekend so I can drink wine. When I'm upset, I don’t need drinks to “Get though”. No need for prosecco to celebrate anything because I’m happy with my sparkling water.  Most of all no bad decisions based on alcohol and false confidence.   

So will I drink again?  Who knows but as I sit here today reflecting on just how good my life is now, I can not formulate any reason why it makes sense in my life when I am completely and truly happy without it.  

This next year will be more focused on forgiveness. Something that I struggle with.  Forgiving those people that hurt me. I also need to work on forgiving myself for putting myself in harmful situations and trusting the wrong people. That was a past version of myself that I still love and have compassion for.  She did what she thought was right at the time, she wasn’t informed and I can’t be mad at her for loving and trusting the wrong people. Now this version knows better, is stronger, happier and is proud of herself.   

This wasn’t an easy thing to write. It is only a mere slice of my story but I wanted to share the important parts of my journey.  Vanessa was open about her path and that led me down mine so please reach out if you are in need of an ear!  

Much Love,  

Jaclyn 

There has been this thing I've been working on that you may have heard about. Oh yes, my new 5 song EP! Back in the winter I successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign amidst the beginnings of a global pandemic! I need not get into detail as we all went through it. Once life got back to a level of normal again I got into the studio to start this exciting project!  I was joined by some fantastic artists performing on this record that spanned from here in SJ all the way to Nashville! As of right now all the music beds are done and I have 3 songs left to lay down vocals on. My ducks are pretty much in a row! 

The decision I have made is to hold off the full release until the spring. This gives John and I more time to really make sure it is not rushed! 

I must tell you that a really cool thing that happened in the studio. The songs kind of took on a life of their own. It was a community of players that all had their unique style and experience to the table that gave new life to each one. I love singing to these tracks and am SOOOOO freaking excited to show them too you as soon as they are ready.

Seeing how we worked so hard on the MUSIC it only made sense to get my branding right. I hired a great team and we got to work.  So here is a little sneak peak into our first photo shoot for this record.  

Will be back soon with more updates!

Love JR

Here is a quick note with my final numbers! 

85 Supporters 
107% of Goal 
$2575 of $2400 raised in 30 days 
My heart = Very happy! 

Thank you everyone who made this possible. Website will go back to normal and I will have album pre-orders available and Suds for Songs will be available while I still have some left. (aprox 20).Just visit the "Store" tab on my page here! 

Studio time set for May!  I can't wait to record new music for you all. 

Love, 

JR

One week ago I seriously considered ending my crowdfunding campaign after the world seemed to be turned upside down! I was at 88% and thought well I can make this work. Although I was feeling very grateful to have got so far I was so discouraged because I didn't want to look selfish asking anyone for support during this crazy time. 

After talking to some of my friends who happen to be business coaches and entrepreneurs they encouraged me to keep going. So I did. It was halted for a few days but after keeping up on sharing things started moving a bit and now thanks to shares and contributions from believers we have moved my meter up to 97% now I'm at $2330 of my $2400 goal. Just $70 to reach 100% with 5 days left in the campaign. Most of that came yesterday actually! Bringing me to 78 backers. This is incredible to me. I am so lucky. Plus all of the money is going to local businesses (people) that need the support too! That also keeps me going. 

Its been an emotional and uncertain week for everyone. I wish I had a magic wand to make it all better for the world but clearly I do not. All I have is belief. I believe we are going to get though this together! This "social starving" (coined by Mitch Biggar) and pause in our lives will be over soon. We Will get back to normal or find a normal and rebuild. My hope is that we all do this with a fresh perspective. Life is fragile and I think we have been shown that we are in fact a global community. One thing we can do is continue to support one another. 

Thank you all for taking the time to be a part of my musical world. If it wasn't for you I couldn't do this. So I need you, love you and REALLY want to keep you so I will work hard to make you proud. 

Thats all for now. Stay safe,wash your hands, stay home, cuddle your loved ones and practice gratitude whenever you can. 

Love, 

Jaclyn 

www.jaclynreinhartofficial.com for pledges, info, mailing list and MUSIC.

Well I haven't hustled for more recording money since this morning. Its been quite an information day regarding this pandemic and now with school being closed for the next two weeks I need to figure out my own family plan. I am fully self employed and if I don't work I don't make money. No vacation or sick days so I can NOT afford to even miss one day between now and the end of the month because I am the only source of income for me and my kids. 

How does that relate to my project? For those of you who are interested..here are some things I want to share this with you. 

As far as my project is concerned because this is the end of the fiscal year for MNB ... I need to pay for the recording/musicians/mastering before March 31st in order to be eligible to have 50% of up to $4800 matched ($2400) by the Province of New Brunswick's Music Industry Development Grant (through Music NB) that I received (I have 75% of that and receive the other 25% once the project is completed). Otherwise I hand back the $1800 and really don't want to have to do that! It would seriously delay this new record. 

Still with me? Ok so right now I'm at 87.9% of a $2400 fan funding goal from 69 incredible supporters. (God you are amazing humans!!) That means that just from those contributions alone I have $2110 towards this project and if that is all I can use then my grant matches it so the total becomes $4220 just from those two sources to pay my musicians, recording time and mastering. Of course I will be investing my own money into this too. There are many other expenses that go along with a release strategy so my plan was to crowd source the recording/mastering expenses. Things like manufacturing, digital release, album artwork, photos, press release, shipping, some travel all are additional expenses not covered for his particular grant. I'll be applying for more funding though other programs and funding bodies too but that is never a guarantee that you are awarded. I've been successful with a few grants over the past few years and feel great about that but its not something we can count on ever. You just have to put in the work and the faith that it will work out. 

The point is I understand that we are in a very stressful time and my heart breaks for so many people who are affected by this. For all of us as the human race facing such uncertainty all we can do is trust our leaders, try to stay safe by following trusted sources of information, don't panic and this will all be over sooner if we all take the necessary precautions to keep each other out of harms way. 

So for me...even if I don't make another cent from this crowdfunding I'm going to take what I have and make the best record that I can with some of my talented friends. I appreciate every single one of you and look forward to making music for my friends, fans and family to enjoy and use as another stepping stone to build on my music career to take it the next level to the best of my ability. I have a strong mentorship backing though my professional development networks, many supporters who believe in what I do and I'm going to keep pursuing my passion and sharing my knowledge though music with the world so I can help others get though tough times like I had to do. This whole past few weeks since launching have filled my heart to have the privilege to see who has my back. Thank you all for the shares, likes, comments and financial contributions. 

This project is going to happen. If I need to make some cuts then we will work that out. I'm meeting with John on Sunday and will have a better idea of anything we might need to do to put it all together the best we can. 

I'll keep sharing the campaign for the next 12 days because every little bit helps but I know that its going to be a tough few weeks for everyone. If you can help its amazing and appreciated but I just want the people I care about to be safe and healthy. 

I love you. 

<3 Jaclyn

Week one in the bag and what an emotional week it was! It's a lot of mental space to hold on top of being a single mom, working for myself with an already overactive brain!  I'm not complaining it is just the way my life is! Doing what I do as an artist has highs and lows all the time. Its a journey I take because I love all aspects of music from the business side to connecting with people helping to use my music as comfort though my perspective on life.  

Ok, emotional stuff out of the way!!  So today is Sunday and 7th day of my campaign. I started the off strong I'd say with a total of $1015 raised bringing me to 41% of the goal.  Every time I received the email saying a pledge/donation came though my heart would skip a beat, I'd get teary or just jump for joy!  I was pleased to see who hopped on board with me to help with this project so early.  I like to think I know who all my fans are but there were some in there that I don't know that tells me I'm reaching new people.  No matter where it comes from it is all-important to ensuring this project gets the financial attention it deserves.   

I have been happy and stressed really.  So many questions arise when you do something like this. Most people will never have to nor want to.  I studied other artist campaigns before launching, asked lots of questions some musical friends Kylie Fox, Christine Campbell, Kinley and Lynne Hanson (All stellar female artists please check them out!). They all had recent campaigns and shared with me some feedback and suggestions.   

The reality is that each project is individual to the artist.  We are all at different levels career-wise, we have different styles and even different fans.  So there was no right answer except to just be yourself and share your passion.  

So this coming week I know will be busy! I have a few other pledging options to unleash but I'm just waiting on a few final details.  
We also are moving into march break here in NB so I know you will be busy.  It's a normal work/mom/art week for me so I'll keep plugging away.  I'd love to really get over the 50% hump asap!  Please keep sharing, liking, commenting AND mostly if you can donate/pledge please do and help me reach this crowdfunding goal of $2400 (that is half of my budget!). 

Thank you for reading and for being a part of this with me!  

You make my dreams a reality. I’m writing this the night before I officially launch my crowdfunding campaign and I am scared but also excited! The fact that you’re even reading these words is enough to make me happy.

I hope that you enjoy this journey that I am about to share with you throughout the creation of this new recording.

I’d like to encourage you to sign up as a subscriber as it will give you access to content as it’s released.

You’re the reason that I take the time to make my art public, so I wanted to create a space that is just for my super supporters. Each and every person that I have the chance to connect with is important to me.

That’s it for now. More exciting news to come!