I have been clean for:
I Stand With Ukraine

Welcome

Journal

Some memes

Feel Free to steal and repost these memes!

Surrender meme Work the steps meme

โ‡‘ sometimes, though, in the daily routine, i lose track of โ‡‘

Posted: Wed, Aug 31, 2011 07:28:38 AM

how much i have been given. how, exactly, has my life changed since i came to, in recovery? well for one, i am no longer living in FEAR of being outed for what i am. that little task has been taken care of, and although recovery defines who i am, i am no longer struggling with the burden of being an an addict in active addiction.
i have a former and perhaps future sponsee, who has been calling me every few days, telling me he is on the fence but unwilling to make s decision for a variety of reasons. as much as i would love to reach and yank him down into the safety and comfort of recovery, and drag hi by his short hairs back into the rooms, i know that sort of action will yield very poor results. so i wait, and listen and do my best to be warm and welcoming when i want to be brutally honest and say the ONLY way i KNOW of for people LIKE US to thrive is through a program of recovery, so get your lily-white ass in here right now!
that being said, what exactly have i been given since i surrendered to the program? i have been given a direction for the first time in my life. a framework for living, that actually helps me to make decisions that expand my options, rather than narrowing them down. i have been given FREEDOM from the NEED to USE and all of it's consequences. i have been given the opportunity to learn who i am, tolerate the person i find here today and yes come to accept, respect and love him. i have been given a direction that allows me to be more than i was yesterday and opens my eyes to the possibility and probability that i can become the sort of person i have always wanted to be. i have been given the means to treat myself, and as a result those with whom i share my life with, in a better manner. most importantly i have been given a connection to something far beyond the mundane experience that is every day life on this third rock from the sun. for all of this and more i am grateful this morning and ready to move on to my next task, which is more work before going to work.
there are days, when i just need to sit down, stop and feel what it is that this life is all about. yes, i NEED to earn a living, and yes missing a day of work next Monday is a bit off-putting BUT this run of consecutive 8 to 12 hour days, is starting to wear me down. recovery has also given me the opportunity to see that some times i just need to stop and take care of myself as well. taking care of myself means getting started on something i will need to finish this evening, which of course is par for the course these days, as my life is much fuller than i ever expected it to be. and YES that too, is a result of learning to live a program!

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

๐ŸŒŠ i have to ๐ŸŒ‹
634 words ➥ Monday, August 31, 2026 by donnot
๐Ÿ‘ on being true ๐Ÿ‘Œ
410 words ➥ Sunday, August 31, 2025 by donnot
๐Ÿคจ grateful ๐Ÿคฏ
557 words ➥ Saturday, August 31, 2024 by donnot
๐Ÿ”ˆ fidelity to ๐Ÿ”Š
407 words ➥ Thursday, August 31, 2023 by donnot
๐Ÿ™ so much more ๐Ÿ™Œ
374 words ➥ Wednesday, August 31, 2022 by donnot
๐ŸŒค how much ๐ŸŒฅ
441 words ➥ Tuesday, August 31, 2021 by donnot
๐ŸŒ„ losing track ๐ŸŒ„
186 words ➥ Monday, August 31, 2020 by donnot
๐Ÿฑ more freedom ๐Ÿฒ
434 words ➥ Saturday, August 31, 2019 by donnot
๐ŸŒŸ how, exactly, ๐ŸŒ 
630 words ➥ Friday, August 31, 2018 by donnot
โ‹ฏ and now ๐ŸŽ
625 words ➥ Thursday, August 31, 2017 by donnot
๐ŸŒœ how, exactly, ๐ŸŒ›
901 words ➥ Wednesday, August 31, 2016 by donnot
ยพ gratitude ยพ
688 words ➥ Monday, August 31, 2015 by donnot
โˆ i will greet today with HOPE, โˆ
609 words ➥ Sunday, August 31, 2014 by donnot
ยฟ do i fully appreciate โ€ฆ
602 words ➥ Saturday, August 31, 2013 by donnot
โ€ข recovery has given me freedom โ€ข
688 words ➥ Friday, August 31, 2012 by donnot
หœ my hopeless living problems have become joyously changed หœ
610 words ➥ Tuesday, August 31, 2010 by donnot
ฮฑ the fellowship has given me much more than simple abstinence ฯ‰
382 words ➥ Friday, August 31, 2007 by donnot
ฯ‰ facing this day with gratitude ฮฑ
371 words ➥ Wednesday, August 31, 2005 by donnot
today i will face the day with HOPE
134 words ➥ Tuesday, August 31, 2004 by donnot

Tao Te Ching

☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯

The Tao Teh King, or The Tao and Its Characteristics
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge

Book 2

2) There is always One who presides over the infliction death. He
who would inflict death in the room of him who so presides over it
may be described as hewing wood instead of a great carpenter. Seldom
is it that he who undertakes the hewing, instead of the great carpenter,
does not cut his own hands!