Dee74

I spent a lot of time in early recovery sifting through the debris my drinking had left behind.

I had a lot of regret, sadness and anger about the 20 years I'd given to alcohol, and the even longer period I'd given to pot.

I felt damaged, broken, used up and hopeless.

That didn't last tho (in large measure to this place) and eventually I came to a sense of peace about the past.

I made amends where I could and spent a lot of time 'paying it forward' as some kind of living amends.

I started to feel better about myself and I began to see my brokenness in a new way as well.

I began to think that maybe my brokenness was beautiful in its own way.

The Japanese have even made a virtue of mending broken things with gold.

They call it kintsukuroi, and to me the mended pots are more beautiful than the whole ones.


Like an antique that's been battered, dented, dropped, or painted - or touched by the brilliant blue-green of verdigris - there's a beauty in us and our survival, and our journey leaves a kind of road map on us, and in us, that shows where we've been..

I hope everyone, especially newcomers, come to see the beauty in themselves


D

petals

Shotgun x

VirginiaWoof

For me I'm beginning to feel 'whole' for the first time rather than being broken and coming back together.

petals

Thanks for the lovely intro dee. What a lovely way to think. I too felt broken and sad about the past. Xx

Snarly

Hi,

I'm new around here and am checking out things on the forum.

This looks interesting. What do I do here?

Not to be about me. Just want to be active and stay sober.

Thanks!

Dee74

This is a support thread for the weekend Snarly

D

Tetra

That's a lovely intro, thanks Dee, and it's definitely something I can relate to.

Well I'm constantly exhausted yet strangely feeling a bit brighter this morning. It's sunny this morning after last night's torrential rain, it's payday and I always go for a pre-work coffee and muffin on payday. It's my way of saying 'thank you'...to me. Cause like the ad says "you're worth it' and it took me a very very very very very long time to realise that.

I have my group meeting later and I'll see my friends there and my dad later.

Have a nice day friends!

VibrantQueen

I'm on board for another sober weekend. It's my daughter's 18th birthday

Snarly

Sign me up to!

Behan

Greetings weekenders!!!

Great OP Dee!! When I first made the decision to live a sober life, it occurred in the context of feeling utterly broken and being on the verge of breaking everything around me. My life changed, slowly and surely, one weekend at a time.

A big welcome to all regulars and any new folks joining this weekend. You can do this. Have a plan for the weekend - keep busy, eat well, be active, watch box sets - do anything other than drink/use. I wish you the best of luck!!!

B

VirginiaWoof

Happy Birthday to your daughter xx

(My son is 18 three weeks today).

Soberwolf

Beautiful intro D

I'm in

Flossyteacake

Evening, all.

Nice intro, Dee, definitely thought-provoking. I shall ponder on it.

Today has mainly been spent preparing Child 1 for junior guide camp this weekend; she leaves tomorrow and isn't back until Monday (which is a holiday here). She's super-excited. I'm going to miss her cluttering up the place. Plans for this evening are my yoga/meditation class and to start a new book.

Snarly - welcome to the weekender.
VQ - happy birthday to your daughter!

Happy Thursday, everyone.

Lightning Bug

I definitely felt broken - like a million pieces of a puzzle that I had to put together again. Right now I am at a point where my border is complete (the edges are so easy to put together). Now I am working on the hard part, filling it in and doing it without breaking my border.

MrPL

Great start Dee.

In other words, "we don't get to be who we are now unless we've been who we were before". Every path leads to a different end and I am very happy to finally be on the right one!

P

LBrain

I like this analogy.

Beautiful intro Dee.

Welcome Snarly and VibrantQueen (VQ), Virginia and all.

Petals, shotgun has a big responsibility that goes along with it.


I'll be in the back of the bus again.

Zanna

Count me in! We all know what happened when I avoided these threads last weekend. Not gonna happen this one

gatorman

Count me in!!!

LBrain

Zanna, I can only guess what happened. Stay close. If you are having difficulty, share here. If you are feeling like you want to drink, you have to get permission from Dee first. So make sure you ask.

Trees, I believe it was you who last week mentioned going to the shop, buying booze and taking it home just to dump it. And everyone congratulates you...
I challenge you to take it up a notch. Next time you are in that situation, just close your eyes and imagine yourself dumping it. Then go outside and burn a ten dollar bill. Or better yet, spend that ten dollars on something useful and leave the booze on the shelf. You keep doing that and sooner rather than later you will drink it instead of dumping it. Quit tempting yourself!

And since it is spring down below, and Snarly said, "Put me in coach," if it was spring 'up here' it would be the first week of baseball.
Enjoy the spring down under...

Weasel1966

IN!

Great into Dee!