I’m grateful for a really productive day. I’m grateful for a brand new rice cooker. I’m grateful for the unexpected things that happen. I’m grateful for a bunch of pennies. I’m grateful for pancakes at the diner. I’m grateful to be sober today.
It’s Saturday and that can only mean one thing. Well, maybe a couple of things, but for our purposes, right here, right now, it mostly means one thing: The somewhat-read, seldom-imitated:
Saturday Gratitude Round-Up
Seven Days of Gratitude. One tiny email.
Click the Pictures!
Daily Gratitude List 1.15.23
Showing Not Telling
Bill W. was an inveterate, nearly incorrigible, OG alcoholic. He tried everything that was suggested to him by other people to get sober and nothing really worked until he saw an example of sobriety with his own two eyes that convinced him recovery was possible. He didn’t hear a really persuasive speech or really inspiring words; He saw an alcoholic who had been way down the scale and had managed to get sober. That sparked the idea that maybe he could get sober, too. It’s a pretty simple notion and it’s premised on the “show, don’t tell” model that is ultimately the most persuasive approach to sobriety.
Daily Gratitude List 1.16.23
Sober Girls Edition
But, as I write, the sun is pouring through the door to our terrace. And last Friday, the sky lit up with orange, the light from the setting sun bouncing off the buildings turning everything into this world of soft pink. And that, to me, is the clearest sign of them all. A signal that I may need to work on my gratitude. Because there is so much to be grateful for...
Daily Gratitude List 1.17.23
Loneliness and Sobriety: Part I
I always found that feeling to be slightly exciting. The feeling when you realize you’re really alone; that you’re a little lost. That, despite an obvious lack of qualifications, you’ve been placed in command of your own life, given a ship to sail with no set course or map. I started noticing those feelings at a pretty young age. Moments when I realized I was alone started to produce this odd mix of excitement and fear, my stomach would clench in a pleasant twist, I’d feel a different kind of focus.
Daily Gratitude List 1.18.23
Loneliness and Sobriety: Part II
I wasn’t broken. I didn’t need to apologize for or explain who I was. I certainly didn’t need Queen Kim Crawford’s help to make myself feel whole. I just had to be the person I was meant to be and live the life I was meant to lead. I’m not exactly sure what that entails yet, maybe the turn-by-turn directions show up later?
Growing Pains: sober Girls Edition
Diary of a Sober Girl - 1/14 - 1/18 2023
Daily Gratitude List 1.19.23
For Whom the Phone Rings
I have photos of really lovely moments that I took with that phone. I wrote my first gratitude list on that phone. I used that phone to take almost all of the pictures I’ve posted since then. I’ve sent and received zillions of texts from people I loved, some still in my life, some not. I used that phone to find meetings, chart my course around an unfamiliar city, keep a never-ending stream of music coursing through my airpods. I used that phone to keep me moving and not thinking too much. That phone was critical to keeping my life afloat while I worked to rebuild it from the waterline up. That phone was a witness to a really remarkable, sometimes-pretty-difficult, a little-no-good, very miraculous couple of years.
Bonus Video: Ferris Bueller and Edward Hopper!
And that is a wrap. Happy Saturday.
Thanks for Letting Me Share
The little snippets from each post are a great touch!