Friday, January 30, 2015

Recovery from Alcoholism- "Many segments in a day's time"

Reflections....
....on the Road to recovery

                                           "Many Segments in a Day's Time"

When someone asks you, "How is your day going?"  how do you respond?

For me,  it's a general reaction based on how I'm feeling about the cumulative results of my day's thoughts, activities, challenges, successes,  failures, etc.

Lately. though, I have been thinking something different.

A day is a long time. Lots of things happen in a day's time. I make progress in some areas, make mistakes in others... interact well with some people, not so well with others... My defects of character emerge strongly for a period of time and fade as I take corrective action that I learned in AA. I may feel very connected with God in the a.m. and lose contact when I get angry or fearful later in the day.

I see it clearly now:  a day is a series of segments - some brief,  some longer - and what I am just beginning to see is that, when you look at a day as a series of segments, it takes away the attitude of I either had a good day or a bad one.

Instead, I can experience a whole series of smaller segments that allow me to enjoy the positive moments fully,  and, on the other hand, assess, change and move forward from negative experiences. In other words, I can start over many, many times during the day.

I guess that translates to living an hour at a time, or a segment at a time, instead of a day at a time.

Looking at a day in this way allows me to enjoy, reflect, adjust, accept and move forward,
instead of getting stuck in a singular pattern of thinking and action.

By the way, how does this relate to alcoholism?

My immediate response to this question is that I now reflect on positive things like the subject of this blog - as opposed to laying in bed, sick,  hungover, dreading the day and wondering how I will get through it with not drinking... or maybe having just one drink??? Right, sure.

How is your day of segments going?

2 comments:

  1. I really like this approach of looking at the day. By employing this method, it prevents my whole day from being ruined because I got stuck in traffic on the way in--which happens to me quite often!! It also leads me back to a previous blog about starting the day over again when it's going poorly. Great stuff Rick!!

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  2. Steve, I'm trying to incorporate these really good ideas. Tough to move from thought and understanding into action!

    Thanks Rick

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