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„œ no matter what โ„‘

Posted: Tue, Nov 3, 2015 07:58:46 AM

in the real world, stuff happens, some of it to my liking, some not so much, that is just how it is. in the imaginary world that i once used to share about, i farted daisies and puked rainbows, no matter what, it was all good, regardless of whether i really believed that or not. in that imaginary world, i believed i was actually helping out the latest of my peers to walk into the door, by keeping them around long enough to “get” this recover gig. so enough i realized as the reading points out, that sugar coating what life is, does not one person any favor, not me, not my peers, and certainly not the newest members, all it does it set them up for an enormous fall.
so knowing i was doing wrong, i swung the other way, and shared about how sick i still am, after some years clean. how when i did not like the way things were going, i found a substitute to change the way i was feeling. in my “doom and gloom” days. that was also a behavior i believed was beneficial for the newcomer, because after all,l that was why i was there, to carry the message to the newest of my new peers. more importantly after my journey to the dark side, i would say; “BUT I STAYED CLEAN, TODAY!”
time passes, i work some steps, i learn how to be present and i start to work an active program of recovery. against that backdrop i see that i am not really here for the new guys, i am here for myself. i share what i need to share and i do my best not to spin it, one way or another, sort of a content neutral attempt. once, i stepped out from the false humility of never taking any part of the credit for my recovery and accepting that i am not that sick anymore, i started to become a part of the “No Matter What club.” i realized that for a long time now, i no longer have the desire to change how i feel and that i am better than i chose to ever admit. and guess what, i have a newcomer sponsee or three.
today? well today, i am grateful for the ability to carry recovery into my life beyond the shelter of the rooms. to take risks and accept the consequences and to see, that there is more to this recovery gig, than just gritting my teeth and not using. i am grateful that i have come to believe that feelings are transitory and seldom fatal. i am grateful that i am learning to take value judgements of “good” and “bad” away from my feelings and doing so much more than surviving. i no longer feel as if i am eking out a life, and trudging the path of recovery. today i CHOOSE to be more than i was yesterday, and sometimes, that gratitude may sound like “advanced” recovery, when actually it is just an extension of the basics.
today. i have a life that need not be toppled over by the slightest breeze of adversity and that life and how i do it, is the message i carry, when i choose to share.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

๐ŸŒฑ through service ๐ŸŒถ
420 words ➥ Monday, November 3, 2025 by donnot
๐ŸŒ‹ why not ๐ŸŒ‹
365 words ➥ Sunday, November 3, 2024 by donnot
๐Ÿ’ service brings ๐Ÿ’
508 words ➥ Friday, November 3, 2023 by donnot
๐Ÿ‘‹ everything ๐Ÿ‘
594 words ➥ Thursday, November 3, 2022 by donnot
๐Ÿ‘ฃ standing on my own ๐Ÿ‘ฃ
476 words ➥ Wednesday, November 3, 2021 by donnot
๐ŸŒน everything becomes ๐ŸŒน
289 words ➥ Tuesday, November 3, 2020 by donnot
๐Ÿค share realistically ๐Ÿค
423 words ➥ Sunday, November 3, 2019 by donnot
๐Ÿ‘น standing on ๐Ÿ’€
708 words ➥ Saturday, November 3, 2018 by donnot
๐ŸŒฌ i might scare ๐Ÿƒ
584 words ➥ Friday, November 3, 2017 by donnot
โ˜ผ pain and joy โ˜
583 words ➥ Thursday, November 3, 2016 by donnot
chances are, that life on its own terms
728 words ➥ Monday, November 3, 2014 by donnot
โ€  no matter what life brings, NOT A SINGLE one of us, โ€ 
684 words ➥ Sunday, November 3, 2013 by donnot
โˆ‘ eventually, i had to stand on my own feet โˆ‘
606 words ➥ Saturday, November 3, 2012 by donnot
&#8476 i will be honest with EVERYONE in the rooms &#8476
680 words ➥ Thursday, November 3, 2011 by donnot
โˆž the truth, wot truth? โˆž
321 words ➥ Thursday, November 3, 2005 by donnot
sharing the truth
340 words ➥ Wednesday, November 3, 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 1

The valley spirit dies not, aye the same;
The female mystery thus do we name.
Its gate, from which at first they issued forth,
Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth.
Long and unbroken does its power remain,
Used gently, and without the touch of pain.