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

๐Ÿ—ฃ i have been told, ๐Ÿ’ฌ

Posted: Thu, May 22, 2025 07:15:12 AM

more than once, that i cannot save my face and my ass at the same time, i can see that if i try to save face while i help an addict, i will not do a very good job doing either. with that in mind, as i never know who reads this stuff or if they get anything out of my mind-dumpery, i have to say, i am not panicked by my impending unemployment but more than a little bit concerned about my elevated PSA number of 9.05. i switched from a passive job search to an active one this morning, but when i consider what i am up against, there is no angst or anxiety filling my present moment. i do have some power here, as i can start to click on the one-click apply buttons on the job boards. the latter, however, is something i am so freaking powerless over, that at times it feels more than a bit overwhelming and the fact that my appointment with my Urologist is two weeks away, feels chasm-like and beyond my ability to bridge. i may not want to use, but i certainly want to find the ways and means to remove what i am feeling about that.
once upon a time, i would have kept how i felt about both of those facts of life i am facing, deep down in a sealed vault. feelings, i was told, were for those who were weak and feeble men. real men, do not let anything show, as anything that may slip out can and will be used against me. the return to that sort of toxic masculinity, which seems all the rage in some circles these days, is not anywhere i want to return to. that culture, nearly killed me and certainly made me less healthy than i could have been. i am not blaming that culture for my addiction, but it certainly led to looking for a way to reconcile what i was feeling and what i “needed” to show the world. getting high, did not remove that dissonance in my soul, but for a small slice of time, it prevented me from being overwhelmed by it.
i have often said that using worked until the very end and that i enjoyed the living crap out of getting high. i am starting to wonder if that is just another lie i have told myself often enough that it has taken on the patina of being true. it is not anything that i am going to obsess about today, but that is certainly a bit of food for thought, as i move forward.
it is a great day to be clean and on this side of the grass, although i have “issues” it is a good day to let go, work on allowing my third step to work me over and see where i end up when this day is over. right here and right now, it is time to be off to the streets to get my daily training work out under my sneakers. life is good and i am well, just for today.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

This day in older entries

๐ŸŒฃ getting vulnerable ๐ŸŒฃ
261 words ➥ Friday, May 22, 2026 by donnot
๐Ÿ’ฉ ~~ no fronts, ๐Ÿ’ฉ
484 words ➥ Wednesday, May 22, 2024 by donnot
๐Ÿค the generosity ๐Ÿคฏ
576 words ➥ Monday, May 22, 2023 by donnot
๐ŸŽข the changes ๐ŸŽข
498 words ➥ Sunday, May 22, 2022 by donnot
๐ŸŒซ controlling outcomes ๐ŸŒซ
497 words ➥ Saturday, May 22, 2021 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜ต certain obvious signs ๐Ÿ˜ถ
512 words ➥ Friday, May 22, 2020 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜ˆ spotting self-centered, ๐Ÿ˜‡
488 words ➥ Wednesday, May 22, 2019 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜ต relentlessly judging ๐Ÿ˜ฒ
513 words ➥ Tuesday, May 22, 2018 by donnot
๐Ÿ˜Ž an awakening ๐Ÿ˜„
734 words ➥ Monday, May 22, 2017 by donnot
โ˜€ symptoms of โ˜ผ
761 words ➥ Sunday, May 22, 2016 by donnot
โ†’ in active addiction, i spent โ†ต
593 words ➥ Friday, May 22, 2015 by donnot
โ€ก i will watch for the symptoms โ€ก
798 words ➥ Thursday, May 22, 2014 by donnot
ยค this spiritual awakening is evidenced by changes in my life ยค
825 words ➥ Wednesday, May 22, 2013 by donnot
ยฅ i have a yen to continue having spiritual awakenings ยฅ
671 words ➥ Tuesday, May 22, 2012 by donnot
โ€ฐ the steps lead to an awakening of a spiritual nature โ€ฐ
773 words ➥ Sunday, May 22, 2011 by donnot
ฮผ i know how to recognize the disease of addiction. ฮผ
384 words ➥ Tuesday, May 22, 2007 by donnot
โˆž on being led to an awakening of a spiritual nature โˆž
395 words ➥ Monday, May 22, 2006 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

2) Wherever a host is stationed, briars and thorns spring up. In the
sequence of great armies there are sure to be bad years.