Imagine

Imagine that you accept yourself and love yourself as you are. Imagine that you are good and complete as you are.

(Quote from the store man from last week, only sinking in now)

Trying to. It’s relaxing, gives inner space and place for thoughts that are useful and constructive. Thinking it is a better one than ‘don’t berate yourself’ because I would be berating myself for berating myself. So, learning by imagining the good position instead of thinking about what I don’t want. It’s like ‘happy that I quit’ – works better for me than: Ooooh shit I should not drink remember do not drink do not drink’

So YEAH I’m going to clean my house. 🙂

Happy that I quit because I am slowly learning how to deal with life and I guess I missed a few steps in the last 30 drinking years.

I want: still to escape the real learning experience and only do the ones that feel nice from the beginning. There’s an addict aspect that needs looking into in due time. Not too quickly because if it feels cornered it will freak out.

I need: to start again with living and realise that I live every day and every day can I make a difference. I can choose to clean or choose to Netflix.

Went to an old workspace were I did loads of volunteer work last 2 years. One of the owners who wholeheartedly disliked me is leaving so there might be new chances there. It was good to be back and they might be looking to hire. Would be nice.

That’s it!

The thing with cleaning and procrastinating is that when I start doing something I get overwhelmed by all that needs to be done. Just like when I believed I could not stop drinking.

Ok. So. Take time. Breathe. And only think of now because I am only here now. I am not in the future. And come to think of that. I am not in the past either. So I am free in this moment. Wow.

So if I am free why should I be cleaning? Because it makes me happy. It makes me happy to follow the internal voice that says: ‘time to clean’. And It makes me happy to have a clean house. And hormones that say: ‘you might…. be inviting somebody soon’ play a part in this too. I like biology. It works splendidly. 🙂

I told somebody

I told somebody that I quit drinking and that I had to. I did not use the word addicted. Who? The store man.

I have been in an emotional rollercoaster with the Schuessler salts and the Louise Hay book breaking open old wounds. Store man calms that down very much. Just by who he is. He shows me that I don’t have to react on impulse. Which is good and very important in my life. And… he actually pointed out something that I was not aware of when I said something not very constructive. No learning experience so good as meeting a guy you want to get to know. 😀 Pfffff….. my luck 😉

So, I came to pick up the second book yesterday and again we stayed in the shop till 3 hours after closing time to talk and drink tea. I told him before that I had gone trough a transformation where I had decided to start to take care of me. And then I told him that not drinking alcohol was a big part of that. He asked: ‘Did you like to drink a lot?’ And I replied: ‘I did not like it but I did drink a lot.’ And that was it. And I am still alive.

He is a special person. We speak about life and development. I do not want to have to hide stuff. After eons of feeling alone in this world I feel like I finally met somebody as alien as I am and getting to know him better and speak about life is good. It is difficult to meet people like me that feel their way through life like I do.

And then….. he triggers stuff that I really can’t use because he uses weed. Which is why I told him that I had to stop drinking. He uses 3 splifs a day in the evening. First time I saw him roll one I asked all about the what and how of making a joint when he did. I guess that explained that I don’t do weed. :-). Third time I met him 2 days later he apologised and asked if I mind if he had one.

I had just had a lesson in the nasty power issue stuff I do so I quickly checked what and where inside and realised: the person that got me to stop drinking was the person that did not judge me. So I said; ‘No.’ Also because I need to check out now what it does to me and when possible, to him. I did see ‘need’, as I used to think I ‘needed’ a beer. Through that I felt my own frequency of addiction trembling again. Earlier that evening he apologised, saying that I should not think he was addicted because he was only using for 2 years, and not a lot.

Sobriety first. I can not meet the store man if his ‘frequency of addiction’ gets mine started again. Am I in love? Not sure. A little I guess. I notice resistance within me and I can’t read the signs. I certainly don’t want to send signs other than like and friendship because I know about the 1 year rule. I think that is a very good rule. I have noticed how I got thrown around inside my body these last 3 days. Funny thing is: my normal physical reaction to a man of interest is not there. So I am a bit confused. Maybe he is really in the friendzone, maybe that is what is unfamiliar. Or maybe I am putting negativity and sadness between me and something beautiful again? I do not know. Let’s see. We are Facebook friends now and he asked me to drop by again and it was not usual courtesy. Let’s see.

Also, he is flat broke, living with his father and not eating kind of flat broke -apart from smoking weed- which…. Which all in all could just be a sign telling me: ‘No matter how much you develop yourself and your strange gifts, you need to get a move on because this is what happens if you do not. ;-)’

So far, I will read it as that and see how things develop. And I start cleaning now. 🙂 Yeah!!!

I am happy that I quit and have learned not to take it for granted because the frequency of addiction is still triggered easily and I got a fright from that. Now I realise that I do not have to follow impulses. Which…. hahaha, is what I learned from the store man by being in his presence and seeing how he spoke with other people.

I need: to get a move on.

I want: to move (NEW!!!)

I take: still the same Schuessler cell salts as I did and something homeopathic that might get rid of the scalloped tongue I have.

Have a nice sober day! Have a nice sober weekend! 🙂

Physical and mental changes part x

I haven’t been writing a lot and I guess that has been because something inside has settled. On the 30th of December I went to a wise woman, the mother of a friend of a friend and former therapist who is/was specialised in Bach Remedies, Schussler salts, Tarot, Homeopathy, chakra reading and healing and several other things. I went there because I felt one of my issues with planning and not working things through or finalising it is actually a chakra issue.

She told me something about disease and alcohol and said: ‘There is nothing wrong with partying ever so now and then. Shake stuff off, wake up in a new day. But doing that on a regular base is destructive. What you did is leave  the door open for too long. So it does not close anymore. If you drink now, you will go all the way.’ I needed to hear that in these words to understand how it works energy wise. And now my substance addiction has a place in my brain: it is an open door to a world where I do not want to go and I have learned to walk past it without going in.

She also said: ‘You have quit, I think that is marvelous, it is so amazing to see people quit their addiction. Now make sure you move on with your Life because that is what you came for. You left the alcohol behind you, also leave that life behind you and stop berating yourself over it. Continue living. All in all, it has been important but it is only one door, you won’t go in there anymore and there are a million of opportunities in life. You came to this world to live, not to look  back, stay stuck and hang around in something you actually quit.’

Hearing that changed things inside me then. I feel like I can actually look into the world again. And the mentioning of ‘it is only one door’ made me realise that, even though it is a very good idea to stay away from that door; the universe is bigger than only my alcohol drenched past. And since then I did not feel so much like blogging and somehow I found back my ability to do stuff and my trust in me.

She gave me one of the Schussler salts too. It works miracles on my blood pressure and sleep. With the first pills I could actually feel my muscles relax through my whole body. That has not happened since, well, I don’t know. It feels like 10 years or so. That was marvellous, and NO WONDER I have high blood pressure. The relaxing helps me realise when I get into a state. So that’s good too. I got some other salts too for things I feel I am lacking. But more on that in another post.

All in all, the understanding of addiction through the image of the door, the salts, all of it somehow finally helps me to do stuff. Like cleaning up without moaning about it, actually even liking it and….writing letters of application. Yes! I did send out 2 applications. What?!! Yes, I did! I had till the 5th of January to react so it finally went out on January the 4th, 23:56 hours, but I did it. YEAH!!!!!!  NEW!!!!

I spend days and days behind the screen crying over my lost past, writing my CV and being happy about all the experience I have and then crying about me having wasted it all and feeling unable to do something with it and back to feeling happy about my experience. Mood swings, but healing now. I took the time to see where I started to berate myself and where I would put an effort in feeling way, way better than my peers.

I also screwed up my chances at the 2nd job forever by calling them with questions about the vacancy. It had a title ‘coordinator’ and ran 3 pages (!) from ‘being superbly technical’, ‘absolutely creative’, ‘cleaning machines’, ‘customer contact’,  ‘setting up educational material and giving courses’, ‘drawing up contracts’, ‘managing the staff’ and ‘organising events’. HR most obviously did NOT have a look at this; when you take that seriously they ask for 4 different people in one. I am smiling at that now and but when having the conversation with the head of the department was there in my tone too. So I can screw the 2nd job but I did send out the letter and that is GOOD. I do see now how I get attracted to a function in an environment that puts out a vacancy for somebody that ‘can do everything’. My delusional self would think that would be me.

And I was going to write a whole theory on disease here, but I don’t feel like working it out.

What I want: I want life to be easier than it is. But that is BS because loads of people have it harder and I am EXACTLY at the point that my life is all about: finally dealing with negativity, presentation, contact and reincarnating, finally dealing finances – not always making enough to not have to worry about it. That is not dealing.

What I need: follow my path and get rid of my blood pressure medication and to get back to exercising at least an hour a day. I’ve been doing half hours for the last 3 days. I came from 1 * 50mg and am at 2 * 12,5mg now since yesterday. Haha, I can feel how it used to dampen my responses to stress because I get road rage again while biking. 😀 Ghegheghe, dealing with that too ‘Getting angry or stressed out is not going to get you there any sooner. You might as well relax and enjoy your ride, wouldn’t that be much nicer?’

Also changing: I have actually, for the FIRST time in my life said to myself ‘You may want some more chocolate now, but how will you feel in 15 minutes? This stuff makes you feel bad in large quantities.’ NEW!! NEW!!! It’s not even about the chocolate that is new, the whole concept of thinking ahead and ‘battling’ with a desire is new. Well, in this way it is. Saying that, I suddenly don’t know how I quit drinking. Aaah, I did not reason with me. AAAH, NO WAY! No reasoning with addiction. Addiction is as addiction does. No use in reasoning with it. :-D. Well, the other thing is NEW and I felt so adult suddenly. And American! Because I only know this line of thinking from American tv series :-).

Also new in the Should situation: I have taken a strict approach to dealing with stuff. When I catch a ‘I should actually….’ I tell myself either to do it or to stop worrying about it. That creates a lot of clarity in my mind. NEW! And it makes me realise that I obviously can not do everything that I want in a day. NEW! The ‘I should’ issue can only live in an environment of arrogance where I think I can do anything. I can’t, but even when writing this there is this voice saying: ‘Pfff, of course you can, you just have to put yourself to it’. I want to believe that. When drinking I did believe it. I guess that’s how I ruined my business: not doing stuff and still thinking I could. That is a NEW painful insight. Brrr….

And I keep on apologizing to my mother on blowing her inheritance money and my life but it does not work because I am still angry with her over not protecting me. And there is something funny about  that sentence / concept of thinking. That is another subject for another day.

Another thing; food has lost its fascination. Don’t know how that happened but I get irritated over ‘having to eat’. NEW!! Let’s see how this progresses. I have a chocolate bar in the cupboard, it has been there for 3-4 days now. If I feel like it there is something that says; ‘You could also have a tangerine if you want sugar.’ NEW!!! WEIRD!!! Might have to do with now I move on from being ill that I do not need rewards anymore. Not sure. Actually I expect this disinterest in food to change back to ‘normal’ pretty soon.

What I need: what I need is more joy in my life so I signed up with a group that plays board games. Nice, nice. It is open to kids as well so I am guessing it is alcohol free. And if it is not? Ha! More chances on winning! :-D. The Facebook group is really nice. A guy telling about a dream he had on new game concepts and people being excited about the first after Christmas gathering so they could try out their new games. Nice! I am excited.

What I also need is to continue my road and start dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. But since the talk and the Schussler salts there is finally something in me that wants to return to society. Now I am sober the world does not look half as bad as it did before. 🙂 NEW!

Very fucking happy that I quit. Sometimes proud of it. Finally proud of the approach I take to being sober: this constant self-care in tiny details right up to the border where I can still handle it. I still feel I am going (too) slow but if I just start with something, even if it is slow, then I will finish one day. And that beats not starting.

Hope you liked reading this. I am guessing that the longer I do not write, the longer the posts are.

Have a nice day. 🙂

The bad AND the good.

Sad today. Sad, frustrated and ashamed about me being angry, well, it seems almost all the  time. I don’t know, anger is just overwhelmingly big right now. Christmas time. Thinking about Christmases past with both parents drinking and continuously bickering, arguing, fighting. My mother used to get uptight already 2 weeks before Christmas and the tension in the only eased when the tree was broken down. It was my birthday in between. I always felt that everybody thought is was very inconveniently planned. All along everybody tried to play happy family. Sometimes we were.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I carry a lot of anger in me. In comments here people have called me ‘honest’ and ‘courageous’.  Today I translated that to ‘too angry to be polite’ and ‘too angry to pay attention to the damage I could do to myself’.  Can’t take a compliment. Next I figured out that I can’t take a compliment. Still put sadness between me and all that is good. It has something to do with that middle place I can not find yet: there were everything just IS. And not the bottom where everything is horrible, or the top, where everything is fantastic. I think it is a very addictive things to look for those extremes. I actually find that I internally guid myself towards either of them. Only dead fish go with the flow. That actually has been my motto for a silly 20 years or so. By now I wish I still remembered how to go with the flow. 🙂 Ghegheghe… and then I hear the trees in the park speak to each other ‘Humans, and all their opinions…. what a waste…’

About anger: I need to learn to recognise it now I am soberish. No not drinking, but I feel like the mood swings I make are still after effects of the addiction. Unresolved issues that burst through the surface. I noticed I wanted to hang on to the bad feeling of Christmas and forget the good things. I guess, a few days after, I might as well make the good list.

– My mother was the best Christmas tree decorator I know. Well, apart from the professional ones that  have loads of money and do trees at Harrods or so. She could hang everything so that the whole tree was balanced beautifully. Later, when she herself was very ill she did not want a tree in the house anymore ‘I don’t want a dying tree in my house.’ I can’t actually remember if she did buy a fake one. But, I was trying to look a the good things.

– We played a lot of bord games, that was fun.

– My mother had a few very nice Christmas records and cd’s that we played ever so now and then.

– The fire would be burning in the wood stove and the underfloor would be heated so the whole living part of the house was nice and warm and cosy.

– There would be cats around, that would sometimes cost a few baubles but that was ok.

– We would go out for a walk after dinner or in the morning and the fields would be all dark and cold.

– We never did the presents on Christmas, my parents said it was the celebration of light in the world, not the celebration of commerce. 🙂 Yeah, I can hear you thinking: the apple did not fall far from the tree… Extreme opinions running in the family? Check! Well, we have Santa Claus at the 5th of December, in the Netherlands he is the guy that brings the presents.

– My mother had these beautiful candle holders from iittala named Nappi. Not sure if they are still on the market but they cast this beautiful light shadow. The shadow would move with the movements of the flame. I bought some for myself when I left the house. They were at the table. I would sit with my back to the stove and my front to the candle and look at the lights.

– I would bring chocolates from the finest chocolate maker in our capital. These were a true treat and a happy together moment.

Moods, mood swings, I am noticing that not only the thinking about alcohol is something that can be adjusted from ‘Yessssss!!!’ to a more healthy ‘No thank you.’ But it also looks like the moods I am in are partially supported by myself. It is not only hormones of any kind playing up, it is also me with a whole series of thoughts that support it. In the movie What the bleep do we know scientists explain how we get addicted to our emotions by training our cells to receive certain chemicals that change the state of the cell to happy or sad or whatever. One person says: ‘If you cannot stop certain feelings, you must be addicted to it.’ I am starting to get really interested in that thought.

Guess I had a roller coaster day too because I did stuff. I woke up pretty clear-headed because I had slept well and started to plan my day. Immediately 10.001 thoughts crossed my mind and I ended up doing everything half or only starting and not even continuing. That is the state of my brain these days. I have tried to re-write my CV and write a letter of application. It’s difficult. I feel bad about myself, specifically when writing my CV. I have so much experience, am superbly skilled in so many fields. The only (?) think I fail in is getting my shit together, finding out what really makes my heart sing and last but not least dealing with the nasty people I meet along the way. Like these ex-colleges saying at my first day at the job: ‘It took us three months to pester your predecessors out of here. That will work with you too.’ Or this new boss: ‘I am ok with girls going to college, university, no problem. But I do not understand why they actually have to get a job. If it were my choice you would not be here. Let’s see how long you last.’

I guess the universe is trying to tell me something. 🙂 Unfortunately I still do not know what. I used to believe in ‘The path is the destination.’ Now I look back on my path through my CV and I see unfinished schools mixed with schools where I was in the top 3 of the class. I see a job at a HQ of an international company where I get an ‘Excels’ as a rating. That happens to 2% of the company on a yearly basis. And then the shitty people turn up. Guess I am somebody that lives and breathes extremes. I don’t want that anymore. Quitting alcohol was a good idea. Now I need to deal with the addiction.

Happy that I quit. Though these days it is suddenly getting difficult. Not sure if it connected to the higher sugar intake or to being confronted to my working history. Doesn’t really matter: the solution is less sugar and do the stuff I need to do.

In the new category ‘what I want?’ I want somebody to take care of me :-). Well, that is not going to happen. And if it did I would chuck them out because I don’t want to be dependent on somebody…. 😦 Need trust for that. Trust is in short supply.

What do I need? I need to take better care of myself and I don’t do it because I am tired of being me. So I think I don’t deserve to take care of me. That it’s all a waste anyway. Well, nothing that comes easy is worth having. And pain is a growing opportunity that has not been fulfilled. And going to bed at a normal time has always been a good idea. The cat came to get me an hour ago. 🙂 I actually have a cat that takes care of me.

How is addiction present in my life?

Before watching: the Facebook pages are nice photo’s with inspiring texts and the comments say things like ‘you are so wonderful’, ‘you are so inspirational’ and ‘this is so deep’ etcetera. And then it continuous with a real lousy life. Exactly like I feel today. Trying  to get my life in order and it is not working! AND IT SHOULD WORK TODAY! NOW! 🙂

What happened? I promised the addiction counsellor that I would pick up The Plan again AND do a big part of my admin AND do 1 application and 1 contact for a possible assignment. I am doing it but also getting frustrated with myself. And then somebody through Facebook sends me this vid out of nowhere. Watch and laugh, or cry. Not sure yet… It is a beautifuly, insightful video / sarcastic piece of shit. Not sure either. 🙂

Happy that I quit. If only because otherwise I would still be drinking and have to carry bottles out.

PS: The man being dressed as a women is not an addition to the story (or maybe it is). It is just the format of the series.

Tired

Don’t know what to write, I’m just tired of the events of yesterday and going to bed at 02:00 hours after speaking with my brother for a while. Had a bad dream I can’t really remember, something about odorex poisoning (?) that made me throw up but thanks to the cat; lately she wakes me up when I have  bad dreams by tapping her paw on my arm or face and meowing with concern. She is sooooo sweet.

Yesterday in the morning the nutritionist and I met and I told her about my affair with alcohol and also gave her the address of my blog. And now it becomes funny because I had not realised that I would write about the meeting but she (Hi!!! :-)) would also possibly read it. Hmmmm. No matter, it was a good meeting. What I really like about the approach is that it is holistic; all aspects of life that are important to a human being to function in our society are being looked at. This includes foods but also joy, education, housing, work etc. I’m excited to start. 🙂

Also, we touched on the subject of forgiveness, and where I had been ranting on Dustin John’s blog about ‘I don’t trust people who preach forgiveness and force it upon people, I always wonder what they have got up their sleeve and what they are refusing us to realise.’ – I now finally got an inkling of the feeling and freedom of forgiveness and the energy it sets free. And now looking at my history and personality (and reading back in the blog!) I can suddenly see that there is a lot of resentment in me. People have told me so for years but I always thought I ‘Circumstances justify what I feel.’ With the addition; so sod off. Even my face looks discontent when relaxed. I really dislike that. Not only because it is ugly but also because it is repulsive. Oh, did I tell you I deal in judgements?

On the ranting, I do a lot of that. We had not even touched that subject but I suddenly came to see that just because of the way the nutritionist expresses herself. It just made me wonder what all the shouting and opinions are all about. 🙂 Good. Rest. Not having to blow myself up as a balloon to be seen or heard. Peace.

I got some homework in forms to fill in on my medical background and eating pattern that I need to fill in. Going do that tomorrow.In the afternoon counsellor 2 dropped by at my place. We know each other from about 28 years back. He’s gotten into trouble with alcohol and has gotten himself out too, he’s around day 500. 🙂 A while ago he started a training for addiction counsellor for which he needs guinea pigs. Here I am! :-)We started of with a meal to re-acquaint and continued with the official part. What was really funny that within the scheme of the questioning there also was a place for speaking about the exact opposite of the feelings that are experienced as negative.

So I mentioned feeling disconnected and the next question were; how does that feel AND how would it feel or be to feel not connected.I now also know that I prefer disconnected and lonely and single over connected and with company and being in a relation.

It was freeing to speak with somebody on getting sober. It also made me crave. I am guessing that having to do this on my own makes me vigilant. Speaking with somebody that knows makes me drop my guard et voilà; in come the cravings. Later I noticed that for myself I am VERY strict in condemning alcohol. Not in any second, not one half toe is allowed off the path. Not even in reference to ‘I used to drink and I used to like it.’ This is forbidden by me in my life because alcohol is NOT romantic. It is a drug that ruins and kills, etc. etc. But now I found that I can’t really tell others what to do or think. OK, I know you are not buying that, yes, I did tell. And I did give him a book too. Surprised? 😀

Looking back I maybe should not have done 2 of these types of meetings on one day with my brother coming over as well later for a sleepover because he had been to a concert in the neighbourhood. We had a talk, it was a beginning. But I should be editing here now because now non-professional people who know my brother also might read the blog.

He actually opened with: ‘I feel sorry and guilty that I have not been seeing a lot of people lately, you included’.

‘Whenever I come to your place you are gaming and say that you are too busy to be in contact.’

And he continued: ‘Last time you were at our place I did not feel I was welcome anyhow.’ This was the time where I internally tried to process damage done by friends of his more that 30 years ago and he nicely mentioned that I ‘could make a trauma out of everything’. Yes, let’s not be traumatized by attempted rape and your brother laughing about it. Good idea! Saves us a shitload of worries. Which in itself is true. It’s just, how to get there?

I did not reply, I could not. I am thinking of writing him a letter. Or maybe I should work it through with my therapist first in order to maybe give it a place. And maybe I should not be blogging about my brother now people that he knows also know this blog. Need to edit.

I am tired. Trying to close myself off for possible damage and still keeping an opening for real conversation at the same time is tiring. And the sun is shining outside. I should not be moaning inside but be happy outside. That’s what I am going to do.

I am happy that I quit even though this is the first time that I find it difficult. I want Cola!! I should not have cola because I can not deal with caffeine AND because it is part of my drinking history. Closely linked addiction. I want to drown all the family stuff. I am sad. I miss my brother so much, how it used to be, where we understood each other without speaking and now we ‘talk’, more like ‘discuss’ and he keeps on telling me how I should do stuff and lead my life and change my views. Men and their ways of telling women how to live their lives….. Pfffffff!! Grrrrrrrr. And me, not ever considering that he could be hurt too because he takes this domineering ‘know it all’ position.

Next time I’ll try to speak, maybe start of with saying I would like us to talk more and discuss less. His heart is good.

The sun is out here, going to enjoy that.

Fake for real

I’m getting more and more real and more and more clear and I like that. I always thought I needed alcohol to dampen (is that a word?) my senses but I enjoy this hypersensitivity very much. Yes, sorry for that word, and no, hypersensitivity does NOT mean that I suddenly get all sensitive and polite. I actually found that sensitive people can be very insensitive (moi!) because they (I) block stuff out continuously. Like autism. Well today I did another day of connecting to people and I can really use this newfound skill and way of ‘being’ instead of ‘hiding’. Good :-). It is amazing that the things that I was most scared of upfront work out to be very different from what I imagined. The reality even exceeds what I could have imagined. Good 🙂

On becoming real: a few days ago I bought this memory game, it’s called ‘fake for real’ and I am loving it. It consists of sets of cards of which on has a picture of something fake and the other of the real deal. Friends and I played it yesterday evening and had great fun. If you check out the website you can actually play parts of the game online. When you combine two cards that belong together the website explains why they chose the specific cards. When you finish the game you can play again and it shows different cards. All in all very well done I think.

And I like it also because it trains my brain to be exact and use my memory muscle that has gone weak over the years of alcohol abuse.

Note: the colours are very good in the real game, this is just my scanner that is bad.

In the picture you see:

Michael Jackson as he was and how he would have been if he had not done the surgery and skin bleaching.

Scooby snacks and M&M’s.

A big Mac as it is advertised and how it looks for real.

OJ Simpson in the Newsweek (real colour) and in the Times (skin darkened with the use of Photoshop). I believe both issues came out in the same week and the Time’s version caused some upheaval. Rightly so, rightly so.

No deep thoughts, haven’t done shit but for today that is ok. Not sure why. I guess because of all the crying I did yesterday and the headache from not having glasses. I think I became befriended with my optician today. We spoke for 2 hours on life. I am happy that my sober life enables me to really get in contact with people AND realise that real contact is being appreciated. While before ‘people’ were ‘one block’ of ‘nastyness’ that ‘is against me’. Darkness everywhere. Very lonely. A lot of aggression in me. I assume that it is a projection of my own inner life. And now I take better care of myself, I like the outside world better.

So, happy that I quit. Although sometimes, sometimes I wonder if I could not just, just have 1 beer, ok, just have 2 six-packs and a bottle wine. Or 2, because if you do it you might as well do it ‘good’. Not because I need it, but just because I have shown that I don’t need it. Or so. Sigh. Happy that I quit. Missing some kind of physical reward. Need to look up how this reward issues work in addiction.

Aaahrg!!! Admin!!!

So much for the Facebooklike post. And you want to know why I don’t evolve, well because it is fucking difficult!

‘No you think it is difficult, you have done this before. You can do it.’

‘NOOO, this time it is much more.’

‘Then think how much better you will feel afterwards.’

‘NOOOO!!!!!’

‘Grow up!!!’

‘NOOOOOOOO!!!’

‘All the problems that you have exist simply because you don’t want to grow up. At some level we don’t want to take responsibility.’

‘NOOOOOOO, well, YESSSSSSSSS! I don’t want to grow up!!

Sigh, what about asking for help? The only one that I know is smart in what I am doing is a person that berates me for everything I do so that is very uncomfortable. Or I only choose her so I can exactly not help me. I never know that with me. I don’t like admin because it confronts me with where I am failing. I don’t want to fail, if I fail I don’t have the right to live so I can’t really fail.

‘Is this how you feel about others too?’

‘No!’

‘Why not?’

‘Because failing is human.’

‘So why can others fail and you not?’

‘Because I am a super human.’

‘You are the superhuman and your superpower is not doing admin?’

‘YES!! When I stall and stall and stall (and drink enough) it will go away. I will not feel it.’

My rational brain does know that my reactions are ‘nonsense’ and that I panick into sovereignty or arrogance but also I do not know how to approach this intense fear of failure. My ‘thinking’ goes into panick mode immediately.

Maybe it is like going to the dentist; don’t worry, just do it, it will be over in half an hour. I learned to go to the dentist. It took me about 3 years and a good dentist. I actually am ‘thinking’ of making dentist appointments to get my old metal fillings out right now just to outweigh the fear of admin that I have. If it were somebody elses admin I would just do it, no problem. I can not ‘carry it’, it is too heavy. But it is not! I have done this before. I can do it. There is a part of my brain that does not believe that, it goes into panick mode immediately.

Wondering how I did that with drinking. With drinking I had a rock bottom and that propelled me towards finding solutions. Part of that rock bottom is my meagre financial situation. I need to fix this admin issue if I want to stay sober. Hmmm, that makes a difference. Now there is a big picture and admin is a part of it. People that are afraid of spiders do not realise the size of the animal. I might not realise the size of the admin. Maybe it is smaller?

Did I tell you I may have an outlook on very nice work? I was on a fair yesterday and I got into a really nice conversation with people who were active in my former business. I will follow-up on it on Wednesday. There is a good thing about being sober: I connect better with people. Maybe I should try to maintain that same centering that I do with new people on admin, not jump out into fear. Ha! Ghegheghe… there at least is a way of telling myself how and when I ‘take off’ into panick.

Try 783 on the admin coming up. 🙂

Substitute addiction / time to get a move on

It’s my 2 months sober anniversary! 🙂 And after reading Belle’s post this morning I remembered why I never signed up for a 100 challenge day; I thought I needed to get sober for forever. Yes, ‘looking for help’ was not in my dictionary. But I am going to ask help. If all is well I am meeting somebody next Tuesday – not a professional –  that I hope is going to help me with my eating pattern and daily life.

I do cheat a little on the trusting ‘not a professional’ because she is a vicars wife and she wants to be a professional in her specialisation and I am the guinea pig. 🙂 But I hope she can help me get on with the practical part of life because I still rather read blogs and blog but that will not bring bread to the table….

So… Reading blogs this morning (while I should actually be doing admin) I came to the post from Greg W who reblogged a post about substitute addiction from which I copied this part:

He writes that the addict in recovery “may maintain potentially magical thinking that the Higher Power will fix him or her without engaging in corrective action…and may try to use rituals of connection to a Higher Power as means to escape from painful feelings.”

Some of you might know that I am not religious but I do really like the spiritual-like insights and experiences that I have ever so now and then. I do not only like the Ahaa Erlebnis but also the relatively easy way it gets me to understand stuff. And even though I sometimes have to dig deep and face a lot of shit, it feels like I don’t really have to work for it. Which is I guess, true-ish. For me it is easier to feel my way through stuff and blog about it then, I don’t know… how do you solve issues? I actually don’t know what the other option is. Well maybe this explains it: it is easier for me to ride a craving and experience what it is trying to tell me, where it comes from and where it wants to take me than actually fighting it.

I know I can’t do the fighting. I would be afraid that I would lose I guess. Alcohol is strong. Do I lack willpower? Yes! No! Don’t know… My willpower has just been trained to say ‘I want to drink!’ And that statement feels very willpowery and convincing and real and true. I only realise that my willpower is fooling me when I get to the last check which is: ‘Does is make me drink?’ Yes -> not good, beware. Can I fight it? I don’t think so. And I do not want to try to fight it because I think I will lose. That scares me. Addiction runs deep.

So I need to find something that does work from my sober tool box. Most of the time that is bringing my thoughts, fears, feelings to the light. Which is ok. It has worked so far. Happy that I quit. But I’ve had so many beautiful insights in my addiction that by now I feel that if I don’t get enlightened at least once a day that I am not really alive. New addiction? Yes, it feels like it because I feel I have become dependent on it. And also no because it has transformational qualities in it. True addictions don’t do transformations do they? It feels like those experiences change my mindset, my cells, my DNA, my view on life and I need that.

To which my inner voice says: ‘Stop shitting yourself, you are addicted to life changing experience, you get bored if you do not experience stuff. And when you get bored your addict starts to speak up and you get to the danger zone. In alcohol you found freedom of the physical boundaries and you forgot what you call ‘the misery that binds you to the earth’. You now crave the explosion of inner freedom that is in the Ahaa experiences.’

😦 True. Or 🙂 True!!! So what now? So that is a wonderful insight and because I am experiencing this totally happy feeling about this conversations with me I can not imagine why I need to do anything about it. 😀 Gheghegheghe.

And I wrote the below paragraphs before I got the above conversation with myself, now I just can’t see what I was worried about. I actually am high on experience. Wicked! 😀 While 10 Minutes ago that I was worried and probably should be but I can’t feel it now:

Happy that I quit, not happy with that I am not doing the stuff I need to do. Yesterday I had such a big insight in how I face things that the insight itself gave me a splitting headache and I went back to bed and slept for hours. And I was doing exactly NOT what I should be doing. Which is the same I do now. Again and again and again and again. There is another part where I do not want to be clear. Hiding behind stuff, blog.

Enough thinking, here’s an anniversary song. For all of you that are out there and that are, or ar not on the happy train. Join in, sing along. 🙂

Now that I am reading back what I wrote I realise the intention of not doing stuff and berating me about it. I always seem to need something to keep myself down. (I am thinking ‘attached to the world’?) God forbid I should be genuinely happy and content with myself. Can’t have that now can we?

Yes, we can!! 😀

Say who was not doing what she needed to do???