Thursday, January 20, 2011

Tip For Sobriety -- Go Slow

The mantra goes like this: one day at a time.  It makes sense because it cuts off bigger more ultimate-failure type conclusions about oneself that might creep up otherwise.  Like, for instance, the I'm a total drunk piece of shit, and that's all I'll ever be.  Easy conclusion: have a drink!

Harder solution: go slow every day and don't conclude anything ominous about your life.  That's hard because we constantly tell stories about our world to make sense of it, and that means stories about ourselves. 

Part of the harder solution: give yourself space for tasks that might not get accomplished easily or overnight.  If we mostly set our own expectations then we mostly get to tell ourselves the story of whether we meet those expectations or not.    That means: engage with those things you're working on (work on them!), but don't try to finish them today, right now.  Just try to work on them.

If you can hold onto the thought, it short circuits some of the hardwiring to find long term stability.

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