Getting Settled

Hello, my WordPress friends…I am so sorry to have gone so long between posts. I have been pecking away at a new novel, reading until my eyeballs fall out, and wandering around, marveling at this razor sharp, undiluted view of life poking at me from all sides. You know, it is not all fun and games, sobriety. It certainly isn’t easy for those of my persuasion. There is no buffer, anymore, between myself and all this rude reality. And the rose colored glasses, they never stay on for very long. Something along the lines of thirty days, I would guess.

This is not to say that I have any urge or desire to use drugs, because I don’t. Thankfully, something finally clicked inside of me that made it so that I can actually remember what it would REALLY be like, if I got high. Not fun. But there is something weird that goes on…I don’t know how to describe it. It’s almost like depression, but not really. It’s like I am living my life with the volume turned WAY down, whereas, before, I had been blowing out my speakers. So really, my life is at a “normal” volume, but my ears are kinda messed up…does that make sense?

I know now, though, that it is my responsibility to go out and get lively when I am feeling less than excited about things. I know now that drugs are not, and never were, the answer. Only right now, I am struggling with the pace of my life. I haven’t figured out how to be exactly who I want to be, yet, and I am impatient. I am trying hard to be kind to myself, but I am super critical, and I have such high expectations of myself. I hold myself to a very high standard, because I know what I am capable of. I am a realist, as well, and I know the areas where I sort of lack strength, but I can’t seem to go any easier on myself when I don’t do well…or when I don’t try hard enough.

This is a new phase of my life, and I am getting settled. But I am also setting a precedent, and I know I need to be choosy. As much as it is an ongoing process, I am a creature of habit, married to my many routines, and I want to be careful what I accept as okay right now. I am cleaning house, literally and figuratively, purging myself of so many things I have carried around for far too long. It isn’t easy for me to part with things- even things I don’t love, and things that no longer serve me. I am sentimental, but there is also a lot of fear…and holding onto things out of fear has never served me yet. 

I had a yard sale this weekend, both days. Today, I went totally nuts, and started dragging stuff out of the house that I was actually using! Two small dressers, an end table I hated, a big, bulky TV stand. When no one bought them, I was a little relieved…but then I realized I STILL didn’t like those things, and I didn’t want them anymore. I left them outside, posted a curb alert on Craigslist, and went on with my life. My house doesn’t seem any emptier without them…in fact, I am starting to find more and more things I neither want nor need. Every time I get anxious about letting go, I gently remind myself that I am making room for something that I love.

And that is how my life is, I guess. I am a little lonely, lately, having lost touch with many friends because we aren’t living the same life, these days…but I am trying to get right INSIDE, and I have a lot of work to do. I am making room in my life, just like my home, for things that I LOVE. Not just whatever I pick up along the way, but things of quality, of my choosing.

This is the hard part, I know. But I am okay. And when all is said and done, I will look around, and within, and it will be beautiful. I hope there is something meaningful for you in that. Sometimes, I get more out of what I am writing than I think anyone else will, reading it. Have a beautiful night.