Recommended Reading

I have included a Recommended Reading section on the right side of the page. It is my intent to have a special place to collect lots of recommendations so that there is a "one stop shop" for the folks following this blog.

Until I set up that special place, please make a comment on this thread to share your recommendations!

An Important Note About Shopping With Amazon

Amazon has an affiliate program wherein the affiliate (that would be me in this case) gets a "cut" for referring a buyer. Any money made by this blog will be donated to AA, so you can feel good about buying through here. Please note that ANY purchase made after linking from an affiliate is associated with the affiliate, EVEN IF IT WASN'T THE ITEM THAT WAS FOLLOWED. This means that you could (and I recommend you do) go through this blog whenever you are going to buy something from Amazon. To do this, you would click on one of the links in the recommended reading section, and when you get to the Amazon screen, shop as you normally would. Be sure you DO NOT close the browser and open it up again (this breaks the connection to the blog and no money gets donated.)

Desperately Seeking Sleep

O sleep, O gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
And steep my sense in forgetfulness?
William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I

I can certainly identify with the King. I haven't been able to sleep for a couple of nights now and I am exhausted. Kent (my wise and insightful sponsor) told me once to remember the acronym HALT, which stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. These are all common risk factors or triggers for addicts. So what does that say if I am up sitting alone in my apartment at 3AM, pissed off that I don't have any ice cream? :-/

The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more.
Wilson Mizner

LOL, so true, so true.

It's not like I am anxious or worried about anything major, these nagging little thoughts just keep flitting in and out of my head. Two nights ago it was this blog, and wanting it to be helpful, funny, insightful, attractive, and fun. Last night, even though I was exhausted, I kept imagining there were fleas in the bed (there weren't any, were there?), and once I start feeling those little feet walking around, it's all over.

Even thus last night, and two nights more I lay,
And could not win thee, Sleep, by any stealth:
So do not let me wear to-night away.
Without thee what is all the morning's wealth?
Come, blessed barrier between day and day,
Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health!
William Wordsworth, "To Sleep"

I do my best to avoid taking Ambien. Even though it's not addictive, I really like to avoid medicating whenever possible. I've got some hypnosis CDs that I may break out tonight ... I don't want to spend another night in front of the TV watching B movies like Reindeer Games.

What do you do to help you drift off?


Disclaimer: The quotes are from QuoteGarden. All profits from sales are donated to Alcoholics Anonymous. I love the Internet!

Welcome

Welcome to MySobrietyBlog, which is, surprisingly enough, a blog about my journey to sobriety. There are many purposes behind my creating this blog, but the most important reason it exists is to provide a forum for discussing the things that addicts face as we struggle day-to-day. I hope that the discussions we have here will be helpful to individuals, the recovery community, and the world at-large.

This blog IS NOT a place for me to exert control or let my ego take over. I will not control discussions or force my views and opinions on anyone. I am still young in my sobriety (nearing 7 months as I write this) and I am looking to learn from you out there. There is wisdom in the masses and this blog is here to tap into that resource. With that said, I will monitor the threads that are started here, and I will remove anything that is offensive, prejudiced, or that "outs" someone that wishes to remain anonymous.

I expect that this blog will evolve over time, and I hope that it grows to become important to someone other than me. Someday, I hope to move the material created here over to a separate web site that can offer additional tools to the addict that is struggling.

I'm glad you're here, keep comin' back.