I have been clean for:
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🕺 more living 💃

Posted: Sun, Nov 14, 2021 12:38:24 PM

than surviving, is certainly how i see my life today. a long, long time ago, i told myself; **self, if this recovery gig does not make your life any better, go back to using.** over the course of my days clean, i have arrived at having to judge whether or not this way of life was worth the price i was paying, as getting high was still working for me, when i came to the rooms. even a year ago when i was condemned to a hellish existence of supporting and application that was cut-off at the knees by upper management. i reached a point where i could still see a bit of HOPE and stayed clean, even though a bit of using seemed as if it was a very good idea. what i learned from that gift, was it was time to find another way to earn my daily bread and that i was worth more than a quick toke to relieve my stress. little did i realize what was coming: the death of my Dad, an aunt, an uncle, a new job, a trip to Greece and FREEDOM from a lie that crippled me for most of my life. looking back, i can see that even if all those “gifts” had not come my way, not using in those dark days, a year ago was the next right thing.
sitting here, early in the Sunday afternoon, considering my convention experience, i see that because the speaker last night was a powerful, well-spoken woman of color, i was looking for the flaws in her share. she may have exhibited a bit of hubris and entitlement, but as the saying goes, “you spot it, you got it.” which i picked up in a workshop yesterday. i get to use it two more times, than it is mine. when i take away my judgements and biases, i hear her message, that it is what happens within that is important. the past year has wrought huge changes within me, and as a result, i am doing much more than just “getting by.”
the time has come to complete this exercise and get into my day. my life is full and even if i do not like some of those i love, i know that tomorrow, just may be the day, when that changes. my job is to get through this day and allow the changes that are part of this recovery process to happen. anything less, would be selling myself short, and that toke may just end up being a “bright idea.”

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

🔍 i have come 🔎
517 words ➥ Friday, November 14, 2025 by donnot
🕳 as i clean up 🕴
452 words ➥ Thursday, November 14, 2024 by donnot
😎 living a 🦄
492 words ➥ Tuesday, November 14, 2023 by donnot
🤡 a second chance 🤩
562 words ➥ Monday, November 14, 2022 by donnot
🤐 miserable existence 🤯
518 words ➥ Saturday, November 14, 2020 by donnot
🕭 little hope 🕯
597 words ➥ Thursday, November 14, 2019 by donnot
🏚 an exercise in survival 🏯
609 words ➥ Wednesday, November 14, 2018 by donnot
🌛 coming to understand 🌜
606 words ➥ Tuesday, November 14, 2017 by donnot
⦬ today it is ⦭
694 words ➥ Monday, November 14, 2016 by donnot
¢ not just surviving ¢
496 words ➥ Saturday, November 14, 2015 by donnot
≈ if i had died in active addiction, ≈
392 words ➥ Friday, November 14, 2014 by donnot
¡ **i would be better off dead!** ¿
525 words ➥ Thursday, November 14, 2013 by donnot
× the resurrection, which is the process of recovery, ×
568 words ➥ Wednesday, November 14, 2012 by donnot
↑ i am grateful to be alive ↑
604 words ➥ Monday, November 14, 2011 by donnot
♦ when i was using, my life became an exercise in survival ♦
592 words ➥ Sunday, November 14, 2010 by donnot
α in my active addiction, my hold on life was tenuous at best. α
669 words ➥ Friday, November 14, 2008 by donnot
α the more experience i gain in living, rather than merely existing, α
531 words ➥ Tuesday, November 14, 2006 by donnot
α celebrating life!??? ω
425 words ➥ Monday, November 14, 2005 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

He who in (Tao's) wars has skill
Assumes no martial port;
He who fights with most good will
To rage makes no resort.
He who vanquishes yet still
Keeps from his foes apart;
He whose hests men most fulfil
Yet humbly plies his art.

Thus we say, 'He ne'er contends,
And therein is his might.'
Thus we say, 'Men's wills he bends,
That they with him unite.'
Thus we say, 'Like Heaven's his ends,
No sage of old more bright.'