I stumbled across a page of stuff that could be helpful concerning the dificulties we face after short term sobriety, just linking, copyrights and all.. http://www.tlctx.com/ar_pages/paw_part1.htm 3 pages, good stuff. Gave me another check up from the neck up. I get into an awfull rut with cigarettes, ice cream, coffee, day so full I dont slow down to -think-, end up drinking coffee, not eating, and suffering badly from it. work 10-12 hours a day and raising a kid....grin and bear it...17 more years.. But when I get earnest with my morning devotion, pray, and eat well, I have a much better attitude going thru the day. And 6-7 hours of sleep. Get a little out of wack, and it goes to hell in a hurry. 'Ol defects start clouding my view of the world around me... and defects arent -just- all the qualities of asshole-ness that comprise my drunken character. You just dont do what many of us did to ourselves without consequences. Not to say that I havent found the greatest growth of positive character in the middle of unspeakable mental agony, And without God's aid, I am powerless over self-destructive instant gratification in just about anything I get stuck in, whether it's drinking beer or coffee all day long. Once you pass that point.... But as sure as I grow spiritually, I find the physical and mental sloooooowly following behind, and start to recognize the need to be good for myself, not cause I think im living to a hundred, but because every little decision affects me today in how I see and feel about the world around me, and how I treat the people around me. Hell, one day I can configure a damn apache server, hand code a html page, advance a chapter or two in tcp/ip networking, while watching the kid run around, you know, the stuff i'm interested in outside the program, read and post on here, go to a meeting, and then a couple of days, I cant hardly spell my own damned name or read a sentence. Or stare at a sentence 5 minutes wondering what the hell I was getting at.
But when I get earnest with my morning devotion, pray, and eat well, I have a much better attitude going thru the day. And 6-7 hours of sleep. Get a little out of wack, and it goes to hell in a hurry. 'Ol defects start clouding my view of the world around me...
Yup...Sounds about right..buddy...
And yu know what? It doesnt matter how long weve been around here...
For some of us...that never changes..:)
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"LOVE" devoid of self-gratification, is in essence, the will, to the greatest good...of another.
Same here, guys. I can't believe the difference in remembering to atleast get orange juice into my system in the morning, get that six or seven hours of sleep in? If I don't take care of my physical and spiritual needs, the mental and emotional and my inner balance goes to hell in a handbasket.
I know that as alkies, alot of us have a blood sugar imbalance. Doesn't have to be major, but it's enough to wack my whole day out. I forget that four cigarettes and a cup of coffee aren't going to carry me thru to supper, but I forget, and by evening I'm a loss. I have to view those morning devotions and nourishment as necessary as that morning (pardon me here) pee. If it doesnt get done, I'm gonna be miserable all day long....wren
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"Never argue with an idiot... They'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience..."
Hypoglycemia... something about the cells slowly engineering themselves to adapt to the pure energy of the simple sugars produced when alcohol is metabolized. I got a book shortly after drying out, Under the Influence, James Milam Ph.D.,(that stands for Piled higher and Deeper) and Katherine Ketcham, that helped me a whole lot understanding the physical effects of pickling myself, and by helped, I mean understanding somewhat what I was going thru, while I was going thru it. I hadnt fallen out of outer space after all... The parts that helped me the most where the 3 stages of alcoholism, professional analyzation interspaced with little 3rd person perspective stories. Made it easy to see myself in it, and also gets into phsycology a little. That made it worth the four bucks or so, written in '83, intending to sell their treatment center. I get a good laugh looking at the exclamation on the cover, 'The most important breakthrough in alcoholism since AA' A lot of the same info can be had on the internet free nowdays, almost to much. I just like books. The way I see it, if someone is earnestly seeking, God will provide. I'll read just the right thing, talk to just the right person, realize something which brings more order to chaos, and if all else fails, get my head into the Bible. A sure cure every time, the Truth is a razor that will cut away the crap, but that's the sad part, after all else fails, not before. Like going to the dentist. Gets put off sometimes till the pain drives you there.