Carol makes a good point - whenever I feel like I'm not making any progress, I dig out my old posts from the basement. In fact, I have them bookmarked now for easy reference. It's like reading about a different person. Journalling would have the same effect, I guess, but I was too chicken to do it when I was feeling my worst. Guess I didn't want to know what was really going on in my head. I found that the more I posted, the more progress I made. More posts, more responses, more food for thought, more recovery.
If the phone rings, you are not obliged to answer it. It's YOUR phone for goodness sake. I screen my calls all the time - my friends and family know and understand and they leave a message and I get back to them.
And Splendra, hon, I cannot agree more with what you say above.