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๐Ÿ’ค before coming to ๐Ÿ’ก

Posted: Mon, Nov 10, 2025 12:11:19 PM

in recovery, i was chiefly motivated by selfishness with a reckless, feverish focus on finding ways and means to get more drugs. i did not take to this recovery gig very quickly, as i have written about in the past, but once i got desperate enough, i dove into at least looking like the model of a recovering addict. my theory was that IF i looked the part, i would be accepted by my peers as someone to emulate and respect. mixed motives for service? you bet! 😉 as time went on and i continued to serve and find my place in the fellowship and the world around me, my desire to look good diminished and i tired of keeping up appearances. make no mistake, this process was not one that occurred overnight, in fact it took a decade to be fully realized. even then, it was another decade and a half before i finally started to be me and let go of the desire to have others see me as something i was not.
as i sit here this morning on my day off, i can honestly say that i am feeling my desire to exercise integrity and good will. the one thing that came bubbling up o the surface as i listened to the void was that i no longer want to live in the what was and having the desire of the world around me, to conform to my expectations is not really something i want to hold on to. i am starting to “feel” the changes of my THIRD STEP. the other thing that i heard, was that i do not have to rush to get out and about these days. living life on the schedule i used to hold myself to, is no longer my reality. that is one of the toughest things for me to let go of, and i am more than a bit confused as to why i would want to be beholden to something that is not in my best interests. what i keep getting is that i have yet to accept that as my new life and reality. why i might want to return to being a slave to the clock is a mystery to me and perhaps it is to keep me from falling into a life without purpose or direction. well i certainly do not have a lot to do on a daily basis, but i do have a direction and purpose today: stay clean, live in active recovery and allow myself the freedom to improvise to meet the events of the day. just for today, i will be myself and let the world spin as it will, letting go, to the best of my ability, my expectations of how things should go.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

๐Ÿ˜‘ i am fully ๐Ÿ˜Œ
308 words ➥ Sunday, November 10, 2024 by donnot
๐Ÿฆš a foundation ๐Ÿงฑ
484 words ➥ Friday, November 10, 2023 by donnot
๐Ÿƒ no matter ๐Ÿƒ
580 words ➥ Thursday, November 10, 2022 by donnot
๐ŸŒ„ respect ๐ŸŒ‡
393 words ➥ Wednesday, November 10, 2021 by donnot
๐Ÿ  unable to leave ๐Ÿก
239 words ➥ Tuesday, November 10, 2020 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜จ i certainly was ๐Ÿ˜ฑ
301 words ➥ Sunday, November 10, 2019 by donnot
๐ŸŒต recovery is coloring ๐ŸŒฑ
573 words ➥ Saturday, November 10, 2018 by donnot
๐ŸŽฑ i rarely left ๐ŸŽฑ
391 words ➥ Friday, November 10, 2017 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜” unable even to ๐Ÿ˜–
865 words ➥ Thursday, November 10, 2016 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜ฑ fear or faith ๐Ÿ™‡
593 words ➥ Tuesday, November 10, 2015 by donnot
ฮฑ as my FAITH in recovery begins to color ฮฑ
725 words ➥ Sunday, November 10, 2013 by donnot
โ„˜ i no longer need to run in fear, but can walk โ„˜
527 words ➥ Saturday, November 10, 2012 by donnot
โˆ€ at the end of my active addiction i was so afraid of everything โˆ€
470 words ➥ Thursday, November 10, 2011 by donnot
โ€  no matter how far i ran, i always carried fear with me โ€ 
473 words ➥ Wednesday, November 10, 2010 by donnot
โˆž walking in faith or running in fear? โˆž
357 words ➥ Thursday, November 10, 2005 by donnot
walking in faith
169 words ➥ Wednesday, November 10, 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) But I have three precious things which I prize and hold fast. The
first is gentleness; the second is economy; and the third is shrinking
from taking precedence of others.