Small Steps: marathons, adventures and mind-sets

Hi, and a happy New Year to you all (I know it’s now February but I really am lazy). I hope you all made it through relatively unscathed as I have done.

Firstly, I’d like to thank those of you who commented on my last entry. It really is heartening to know that not all of us need the kick in the backside to get straight and that it is possible to get over the initial hurdle through relatively unforced decisiveness.

I now intend to talk and hopefully advise, about the next and ongoing stage of my journey through recovery, which seems like a marathon on a bad day, but much more of an adventure on a good one. This statement, I think, needs exploration:

All too often, within the care sector I hear about how detox is easy, rehab somewhat harder, and full recovery and reintegration back into society the real toughie. Although this is certainly true, I strongly believe that it can be made much easier and palatable to those in the early stages.

To think in terms of adventures and not marathons. Recovery takes time. It is long. It does not need to be oh-so-very hard and plodding as well.

Last summer, someone who had recently stopped drinking asked me in a support group “How will I know when I’ve made it?”. I told him that I don’t think you ever really will know, but you will ask this question less and less as time marches on.

By the way, I really do not want to sound like some bloody self-help book here. When I was drinking, they never seemed to speak to me or understand my own relationship with alcohol anyway. I mean come on!

All this talk about these miraculous self-achievements manifesting themselves into someone else’s life like manna from the gods, just because they’ve not had a drink for a few months or whatever. Bully for you mate but you’re not me! Of course, I now see where they’re coming from.

So what are these ‘small steps’ towards this Holy Grail we call ‘recovered’?

Basically, I think, they’re about doing all the stuff you used to do and enjoy (even if it’s just watching telly or reading) without a drink. This needs practice and is hard work – it is the marathon in the making. After all, these things have probably now become somewhat synonymous with alcohol in your mind and enjoying these things without a drink is a learning curve.

However, if you punctuate this with doing something new and different, whether it’s retraining for a different career or just re-discovering an old and dormant interest, life really does become fun and pleasurable. Addicted or not, I drank because on the whole it was fun and pleasurable and I for one, still need my kicks.

Becoming sober really does become an opportunity, so take it and enjoy it!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always this good though. There are times when the pink cloud that I’m currently preaching from bursts, and I struggle to even remember this mind-set, let alone actually feel it. But so far, I’ve managed to struggle through these episodes.

So take an interest in yourself again, do stuff and just be. Most importantly take your time because it really isn’t a race. My finish line, like everyone else’s, is death itself, and I do not want a medal.

I really am too busy enjoying the adventure.

Cheers

Daemon