Living a Clean and Sober Life is the Best!
Sometimes I get so hung up on what I did wrong when I was deep in the drink, I forget what I missed out on. Sins Committed and Sins Omitted. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Substance use and abuse is an alternate universe. No wonder when someone queries, "What do I have to change?" The answer is "EVERYTHING."
We pay a high price of Admission to enter that alternate world. The cost is not mere Dollars & Cents. There is an emotional toll. Everything you do and everything you don't do becomes entrenched in Acquisition and Use. "So, what's the USE," I used to say and think and feel and live. "I may as well Drink and Drug." Been there, done that. Done.
The purpose of this post is not to Condemn you. "You are not a bad person. You are a sick person." That can be said (and I've heard it said) with a tone of Holier than Thou. When said with compassion and understanding by a fellow alcoholic or addict (I will save discussion of those two terms for another post) in the Rooms of Recovery, you may be saved from drowning in the Past. In the Rooms of Recovery, I have found people who have been through the same Meat Grinder that I was wedged through. What a Relief to Discover: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Welcome to the Road to Recovery!
Addiction broke my world. I lost connection with what little family and friends I had as alcohol and other drugs consumed me. Drugs and alcohol controlled my every move, eventually to the exclusion of all else. Exclusion played a subtle and not so subtle role in my behavior: FEAR OF MISSING OUT! Addiction Double-Crossed me. F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out) played a role in my drug and alcohol use until it pulled the rug out from under me, and I MISSED OUT on EVERYTHING! I was Sunk when I was Drunk as a Skunk.
I wanted to be invited to every party, to go to every party. Life was a Party (Woo-Hoo!) until it wasn't. Drug use led to drug dependency led to drug abuse as down the rabbit hole I went. The need to stay connected with the in-crowd, with my kind of people, changed as time passed and people passed, and Addiction took a Chokehold on my life until there was nothing left to soothe me except more.
F.O.M.O. in SLO-MO.
Addiction became more time-consuming than a job (when I had one). Been there, done that? Well, if you haven't lost your job yet, stick around. You will. It's all downhill or soon will be. Addiction is the Trend without End.
So much time spent doing things I can't even remember. It's funny because it isn't.
Today, Recovery is worth my time, my every moment. It is irreplaceable, invaluable. Being WASTED is a Waste of Time. DUH-uh!?!?!
Recovery gives me time to do, time to be. to Do, to Be.
Scooby-Do-Be-Do!
Time for me to be silly. Time for me to be serious. Time for me to enjoy life. Time for me to live. Time for the pain of Addiction to be replaced by the Joys of Living in Recovery.
Love and Respect yourself and your new Recovery Peeps!
No more F.O.M.O. in SLO-MO! Ain't Nobody Got Time fer Dat!
Time to finish this post. lol!
Enjoy your Recovery. We know it ain't Back THERE, Down THAT Rabbit Hole!
Buh-Bye, fer Real this Time!
Oh, what the hell. Hit REFRESH!
*****
You've got to believe me when I tell you: This Post is in Neither of my Books.
#Enjoy ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal. Find it on Amazon. Book it here: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
&/or
My NEW, Non-Fiction, BECOMING UNBROKEN: Reflections on Addiction and Recovery. It is also on Amazon and may be found here: https://lnkd.in/dkF767RT
Both books are available in Print and Kindle editions.
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