WARNING: Wonderland Ahead

Go read Jeremy's post, Cunning. Baffling. Powerful. NOW!

Wow. Powerful, right?!

And, oh, how I relate...

When I came back from skiing, I stayed overnight at my mother-in-law's in Atlanta. I wanted smooth legs for my honey who was to pick me up in Memphis (sorry, TMI!), so while trying to locate my razor which I'd cleverly stowed inside my ski boot bag, I accidentally cut my finger.  Like all flesh wounds, it bled profusely, so I opened the medicine cabinet to search for a BandAid.

Now, you need to know that Mom never takes ANY medication (barring her required thyroid medication, which she takes religiously and ritualistically), but laying on the shelf was a little paper packet that said "for pain as needed..."

It might as well have said "Drink Me" or "Eat Me."

In an audible voice.

I left the packet on the shelf, untouched, but I knew the pills were were there... waiting.

Taking one or two or three (c'mon - who knows how long they've been in there - they probably have lost all their efficacy by now!) would alter my feelings, take me out of my discomfort, numb my anxiety and put me in an altered state of emotion and experience.

They would take me out of the miserable discomfort of being me.

It was almost as if I was being mocked and set up: "You got through the ski trip; here's your reward... come on, it's JUST PILLS, not alcohol, not your drug of choice."

I had to slam the door shut on the temptation and the voice of my addiction, which was telling me just to nab the packet (it would never be missed, after all) and save it "for later."

I had to take a moment and repeat over and over, while staring into the blank whiteness of the washbasin, "I don't do that anymore."

"I don't DO that anymore!"

"I. DON'T. DO. THAT. ANYMORE!!!"

I don't go through people's medicine cabinets looking for pills.

I don't tell myself pills are okay.

I don't pretend that pills won't take me almost immediately back to my first love, alcohol.

Because they will. Inevitably and inexorably.

And if I ever drink again, I will wreck everything.

I'll destroy myself, my life, and those I love.

I will be out on the street and dead in a matter of months, not years.
That's how bad my alcoholism is.

That's the kind of alcoholic and addict I am.

And I am BOTH.

Maybe my drug of choice, my "main" addiction is alcohol, but anything that controls my emotions, alters my state of consciousness, elevates or deflates my mood will be my undoing.

Thanks, Jeremy, for your amazingly candid and timely post.

You're in my heart.

Care for a tart? (durn, I KNEW I was going to do that!)

The Truth Hurts

Funny...

I think of myself still looking so young and cute...

...until I see an actual photo of myself, and then have to face the reality of the Onward, Relentless March of Time (and photoaging!).

I still feel so young, both in body and attitude.

I’m definitely still young at heart!

*Sigh*

It hardly seems fair.

Just when I’ve started to get it together...

...I’ve no longer got it goin’ on!

(And what the hell is up with those white legs???  Somebody get out the bronzer, QUICK!!)

Damn.

I knew I should have quit smoking sooner!

Stealing a Moment

So, I am totally writing this while at work. I’m having to do it first in MS Word, at the bottom of a document we update daily, hoping that I won’t be caught by my bosses.

I feel a little guilty, but probably not guilty enough. Yeah, it’s wasting their time, i.e., their money so to speak; but on the other side of things, how many countless hours have I put in after hours and never asked for, nor expected compensation?

OK -- so I DO feel guilty.

However, we are very slow at the moment, and now that I'm only working 2 days a week (on the other Admin’s days off) about the only things I can do right now are to 1) follow up on a few items, which I WILL do, or 2) filing, which I am LOATH to do.

I'm glad to be at work now that I'm here. Gets me out of the house, and able to focus on something other than eating and obsessing about my weight.

Speaking of which, number on the scale was 2 pounds higher this morning than it was yesterday!!

And I ate hardly ANYTHING yesterday.

It’s hard not to get discouraged, but I really don’t want to give up the progress I’ve made with this effort to quit smoking, and I really do need to stay on the Hormone Replacement Therapy, which I just started this month.

At the end of this first month, my gynecologist is going to have me reduce my estrogen to half the dosage she now has me on. It’s delivered transdermally, via a gel I apply nightly, so the plan is for me to apply it only every other night after the first month is over.

I am also taking a progesterone supplement, but will only do that for the first 12 days of each month. I suspect that the sudden rapid weight gain over the last few days has something to do with having begun the latter this past Monday evening (I forgot to fill the prescription Sunday). If it is, toward the middle of the month, I should get rid of any excess fluid it's causing me to retain.

Of course, it may not BE just fluid retention.

So, I’m also going to start monitoring what I eat, and try to start eating more healthily.

And I also want to begin exercising some.

I know I need to start out slowly.

Little goals. Baby steps. Little by Little. Easy Does It.

Hard for an alcoholic to do.

Recovering or otherwise.