Checking Back in...

Do you ever get so disconnected from something or someone that it's hard to get reconnected?  I feel that's what happened with me and blogging.  Life got so full that something had to give and blogging was it.  Now I know I need to get back in touch with this important part of my recovery.  And it's hard getting started again. 

Turns out the key ingredient to a solution is pain.  I'm away from home for a three day business conference in Orlando, Florida.  I am in a fancy resort for three days, don't know anyone, very uncomfortable, lonely. 

Heard the other day that alcoholics treat loneliness with isolation.  It struck me true then.  And even more now.

Thus, this blog.

So what have I been doing to stay sober?

• Going to lots of meetings (1-2 per day)
• Listening (95%) and talking (5%) in meetings
• Chairing (telling my experience/strength/hope) in meetings (avg 2/month)
• Getting together regularly with sponsees (10 active sponsees, meet for an hour once every two weeks or a month depending on their needs and my availability)
• Reading spiritual books (Pema Chodrin's my recent favorite)
• Meditation (mostly reciting things memorized over last ten years while I commute to/from work each day); listing to CDs by Jack Kornfield (Insight Meditation) and Pema Chodrin (The Fearless Heart))
• Started a Recovery Twitter account: @MikeLRecovery (short stories have never been my strong suit -- but I thought I'd give this a shot just to try something different -- committing to tweet 4-5 times a week)

My family is growing:  wife and I are growing older (celebrated 30th wedding anniversary this year); my granddaughter turns a year old soon and we are expecting two more grandchildren shortly: my son (still clean/sober after 10 1/2 years even though he's on some sort of meeting hiatus) and his girlfriend are expecting a girl in December and my youngest daughter and her husband are expecting a boy in April.  My children are all living their own lives, yet have remained connected with us and each other.  I'm truly blessed.  I think that this area of my life is what has been getting more of my energy in the last six months and that's a good thing.  I have a tendency to overdo things (to put it mildly!) and I have to constantly be on guard that my recovery work does not overshadow my family life. 

Balance: defined as that moment in time that I pass by when swinging back and forth between one extreme and the other!

OK, that's enough from me.  It's close to six a.m. and I need a quick nap before going out into that scary world!

Take care!

Mike L.