High Times On Bailey Drive

My Dirty Sobriety

Tag: Awakening

  • 10 Years of Sobriety

    10 Years of Sobriety

    Through the Grace of God, a divinely inspired path of life and a community of people whose primary purpose is to improve the lives of themselves and others, the changes over the last decade have been immense and life altering.

    I evolved:

    From a deeply selfish person to one who aims to be of service to others through leadership, mentorship and living amends.

    From being a liability to my family, friends and community to an asset in the world.

    From a person who could not run for longer than 60 seconds to an ultramarathoner.

    From someone who had not found a path in life to a person who discovered many paths of purpose and fulfillment.

    From being 50 pounds overweight and unhealthy in mind, body and spirit to a human being that is healing mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

    From suppressing my emotions and numbing myself to feeling everything, processing past and present emotions and becoming fully present in the moment.

    From a person full of harsh judgement and resentments to someone who tries to give as much grace as has been given me.

    From someone who was existentially lost to someone spiritually found

    And to think….This life was so close to never happening.

    Always thankful. Always grateful.

    Live that life. Love that life.

    ✌🏼❤️

  • Needed this today

    I always entertain great hopes.

    —Robert Frost

    In our honest journey, we must admit life is often difficult and painful. But these facts do not describe all of life, and they do not determine how we respond. The sun rises warm and bright after a cold and dark night. The open, generous smile of a small child reaches into the soft part of us all. To be strong and hardy men on this spiritual path, we must be truthful about the pain and unfairness in life while holding firmly to a belief in all the generous possibilities.

    Surrendering to despair, we trade the uncertainty of options for the certainty of gloom. Then we might say, “At least I’m never disappointed this way.” Life isn’t filled only with difficulty and pain. It is also filled with people whose dignity and spirit rise above their circumstances. There are situations when great sacrifice or love and wisdom turn a problem into an opportunity and strength. If we look at what has happened in our own lives and in those of others, we have ample reason to hope.

    My own experience in recovery gives me great hope in what can be.

  • Mourning Our Children’s Childhoods – The Teenage Years

    I have two teenage boys. My oldest is maturing and finally coming out of the worst it. My middle child is just now entering it. He’s in middle school – middle school simply sucks. And his attitude reflects this.

    I think the worst part is coming to the realization that once your kids enter the teenage years, they’ll never be children again. It’s a dramatic gut punch.

    My favorite years that hold the most cherished memories are when they were 18 months through 11 years old. Its the period of so much growth and they still believe their parents can do no wrong.

    It’s sad and difficult once the attitude starts appearing and they begin disappearing into their rooms for more and more of each evening. I get it. They need the solitude to learn who they are and to decompress from their increasingly complex days at school.

    I still make it a priority to spend quality time with each child every day. We only have today and I will always strive to make the best of it.

    I also work the ACA program ( Adult Children of Alcoholics), so I’ve dug deep into my own inner child work. And maybe I’ve been mourning my own childhood moreso than my own children’s childhoods.

    Regardless, I’ll never experience childhood again. Mine was difficult and confusing. I know my divorce was hard on my oldest who was 8 at the time. I’ve grown into the Dad I’ve always wanted to become, but a broken home is a tragic.

    There’s always a cost to growth. My growth as definitely costly, but worth it.

    Maybe, someday, my kids will understand.

    Seize the day. Nothing is promised.

    “Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”
    ― Rumi

  • The Awakening, Part 2

    The Awakening, Part 2

    You can find The Awakening, Part 1 here.

    Drinking while trying to save a marriage is not a good idea. Especially when the marriage is in trouble directly because of alcohol. Yet, that’s where I found myself during the month of April 2016.

    I entered therapy because I knew something was wrong with me. I didn’t believe it was my drinking though. Maybe it had to do with processing my Mother’s unexpected death. She took her own life almost a decade prior, after battling decades of mental illness.

    I also knew I couldn’t stop drinking. My therapist had suggested I begin improving my life by quitting drinking. I was stubborn and thought there had to be another way.

    I continued to drink heavily a few times per week. It was during one of these hardcore drinking sessions that I received a phone call informing me that Neely had overdosed on heroin.

    Neely was my first serious girlfriend and the first girl I loved. My best childhood friend had died a few years prior by overdose too. I was shocked. What the hell was happening in my life. If I continued down this road of drinking my problems away, would I end up dead soon, too?

    I woke up the next morning feeling like death. I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. A voice, or rather, a strong thought entered my mind. “You really screwed things up this time. You should commit suicide just like your mother.”

    I knew then, that if I continued drinking my pain away and suppressing long pent up feelings, I would end up dead. I was ready to find a new way of life.

    Out of options, I took my therapist’s advice and entered a recovery program. It was there that I began to heal. In fact, I’m still healing, almost 4 years later.

    In my program, I met people who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. Others entered my life and loved me when I didn’t love myself. This type of community is powerful. They showed me how to live life sober. Showed me how to be happy and love others. Maybe most important, they showed me how to live a life of service.

    One of my favorite quotes is from Joseph Campbell, “The cave that we fear to enter, contains the treasure that we seek.” The obstacle is indeed the path. There’s just no way around our pain. We must process our pain in order to grow. And once we grow, we’re able to help others do the same.

    It has turned out to be such a beautiful life. One that was very close to never happening.

  • The Awakening, Part 1

    The Awakening, Part 1

    So, how exactly did I get here?  By an Awakening.  I suppose you could call it a spiritual one.  One that is guaranteed to occur if you follow certain steps.

    It’s been over three years since my wife of 13 years – we were together a total of 17 – demanded a divorce. Looking back, I cannot blame her. I was deeply unhappy with myself. I was in a downward spiral. Something was wrong with me. I just didn’t know what exactly that “something” was.

    Turns out my turbulent, erratic and traumatic childhood affected me more than I wished to admit. At the age of 37 I was forced to deal with my childhood trauma that I tried to suppress for decades. Alcohol no longer helped. Trust me, I tried.

    I was so full of self-hatred because of the way I was trying to process
    these feelings. Unfortunately, my feelings of self-hatred were transferred
    onto my wife. She did nothing but love me with all she had.

    So, the divorce that was thrust upon me and slowly began to wake me up. I say slowly because I still tried to drink for another month or so while trying to save my marriage.  Which, it turns out, was not exactly the most thought out plan.

    Part 2 forthcoming

    “While the Dark Night of the Soul is a process of death, the Spiritual Awakening Process is the rebirth.”

    Mateo Sol