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

๐Ÿฆ„ honestly embracing life ๐Ÿฒ

Posted: Fri, Aug 2, 2019 08:36:25 AM

as i start my last day of **paid** vacation, i realize that i have done very little to actually get away from the trials and tribulations of my everyday life, and yet, i have totally put my job responsibilities and expectations completely out of my mind. as i spent the week engaged in a coding project that i sent off yesterday afternoon as an “audition” for a new opportunity, i have actually let go of the outcome and feel “good” about drowning myself in cigar smoke and coding. today i journey south for my monthly meeting with one of the men i sponsor, and hopefully over the course of our discussion i can get him to break through his denial about the reservations he is carrying around with him. it has been a full week and without any hesitation i can say a challenging one 🡆 physically, mentally and spiritually.
there are still a couple of seemingly unrelated topics that have been spinning in my head from my interactions with my peers over the course of the past seven days and it is possible that they are nibbling around the corners of my conscious mind, because i want to be in denial about them. the first one is the notion that i can get clean and stay clean to be able to participate in an event, but if i use that as a motive, what happens when i get my wish. i cannot speak for others, for me, when i was using, if i put myself into that situation, i would be using the day after the event occurred and i would do my best to keep it on the down-low, living a lie and feeling the satisfaction of “putting one over” on everyone involved. truthfully, even today, whenever i get the opportunity to do so, i enjoy “getting away” with something. the thrill of the risk inherent in possible being “found out,” makes it all worthwhile, and of course i never stop until i mam forced to do so. case in point, i stopped smoking cigars for a month before my annual nicotine test and commenced again the day after my “negative” was submitted. after seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-five days clean, i still get that thrill. to be honest, when someone tells me that they are getting clean for any reason but their sole desire to live without using, i am always a bit suspect, based on my internal processes.
the other notion is the simple phrase that i heard when i first got clean telling me that i “NEVER HAVE TO USE AGAIN.” that phrase, in and of itself, scared the livinï sh!t out of me, back in the day and still sends shiver or two down my spine, unless i append “JUST FOR TODAY,” to it. i certainly have no issue these days staying clean between the time i wake up and go to sleep. that is the sort of commitment i can make without reservations. the rub here, is many of my peers need to append: “EVEN IF I WANT TO,” and that makes me wonder if i am in denial about my lack of desire to use. i just do not want to use and i have been through more than a few life experiences that would have been a perfect opportunity to use. even the other 85% would have given me a free pass on a bender. it comes down to either i am different from them or i am in denial, or maybe it just is that have achieved something they are still striving for and have yet to settle in themselves. in all honesty, i am not at all sure and i will have more than enough time to sort it out as this day progresses. time to get some pavement time and steps.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

๐Ÿ˜” these days, ๐Ÿ˜Ž
576 words ➥ Sunday, August 2, 2026 by donnot
๐ŸŽฑ living fully ๐ŸŽฏ
401 words ➥ Saturday, August 2, 2025 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜ณ accepting responsibility ๐Ÿ˜ณ
418 words ➥ Friday, August 2, 2024 by donnot
๐ŸŽŒ with independence ๐ŸŽŒ
480 words ➥ Wednesday, August 2, 2023 by donnot
๐Ÿคฌ when i feel ๐Ÿค
586 words ➥ Tuesday, August 2, 2022 by donnot
๐Ÿ trying to wiggle ๐Ÿ›
420 words ➥ Monday, August 2, 2021 by donnot
๐Ÿ—ฆ the sound ๐Ÿ—ง
313 words ➥ Sunday, August 2, 2020 by donnot
๐Ÿ‘‰ living the truth, ๐Ÿ‘ˆ
746 words ➥ Thursday, August 2, 2018 by donnot
๐Ÿคฅ living in fantasy ๐Ÿคณ
455 words ➥ Wednesday, August 2, 2017 by donnot
๐Ÿ‰ practicing honesty ๐Ÿ‰
587 words ➥ Tuesday, August 2, 2016 by donnot
โ™ฃ every time i โ™ฃ
633 words ➥ Sunday, August 2, 2015 by donnot
i sometimes twist my stories as a matter of course,
403 words ➥ Saturday, August 2, 2014 by donnot
< honesty feels good! >
492 words ➥ Friday, August 2, 2013 by donnot
ฮฑ honesty is one of the fundamental principles of recovery ฯ‰
589 words ➥ Sunday, August 2, 2009 by donnot
โˆž learning to be honest is not always easy โ€ฆ
398 words ➥ Saturday, August 2, 2008 by donnot
ฮด honesty may be uncomfortable, but the trouble i have to endure ฮ”
294 words ➥ Thursday, August 2, 2007 by donnot
โ†” i continue to apply the principle of honesty each time โ†”
180 words ➥ Wednesday, August 2, 2006 by donnot
โˆž living an honest program โˆž
272 words ➥ Tuesday, August 2, 2005 by donnot
honesty
140 words ➥ Monday, August 2, 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

3) He who knows these two things finds in them also his model and
rule. Ability to know this model and rule constitutes what we call
the mysterious excellence (of a governor). Deep and far-reaching is
such mysterious excellence, showing indeed its possessor as opposite
to others, but leading them to a great conformity to him.