Wow, what a difference two weeks make. Well two weeks if only counting when I started this thread. In truth the last six months have been a major emotional and spiritual journey for me. The kind of journey that rode me hard and put me up wet. I have seen the darkest depths of my soul (oh lord I hope I never travel to an even darker place). After two weeks of tapering down and intermittent abstinence, followed by almost six days of complete sobriety, if not for this thread, I might be able to forget where I have been. I cannot let that happen. I must actively remember how low I can sink from just one bad decision.
But here I am. 180 degrees away from that enveloping darkness I felt forever trapped in two weeks ago. I feel pretty damn good now. Every day there is more energy. Everyday it is easier to motivate myself. Everyday I want to celebrate my sobriety with a fist-fool of pills. So far, everyday I have beaten back a DEMON. Everyday I grow more content with the limited person that I am.
Since I began this thread I received 3 months worth of back commissions from my old job. Enough to live off of for several months. Just today I was given the good news that I will have an awesome job I originally applied for back in February. The irony with the new job is that it was the first job I applied for since being out of work. I used a resume everyone said was wrong. I was honest in my cover letter as to why I was out of work; everyone said this casted me a sad case with a victim mentality. But you know what, I did not give up. I continually called (but did not pester) the hiring manager to check on the status of the open position. He finally said the job was mine because I obviously wanted the job more than any of the other candidates.
I am still sober.
I am very proud of myself for everything I accomplished.
But I did not do this on my own. A lot of dumb luck was involved and I am lucky to have a better support structure in my life than I had previously realized.
Today, while feeling on top of the world I had an epiphany. This epiphany sucks. My older brother took good care of me at my old job. I did not have to try to hard to make a good living. If my brother had not taken his own life, I do not know if I would ever be as proud of myself as I am today. This FUCKING SUCKS!!!! I am happy and sad and clear of mind yet confused as shit all at the same time. I guess I will have to come to terms with this somehow. But for now all I can thinks is "bittersweet". Life is bittersweet as in the more bitter you taste the sweeter the good parts are.
But I will attempt to ride this out Adderall and opiate free. All I have to do is play the tape forward, reread my original post in this thread and I know where I will be if I fuck up again.
Right now I am excited and planning my future. I have a long week (a week with two weekends) between the end of my son's school year and the day I fly out for training in my new job to plan a badass family vacation. I suggest driving to Gulf Shores for some beach action, my son want to go to Washington D.C. - because he wants to compare our country's actual capitol city with the apocalyptic version he is always seeing in the video games he play (ah, a dork just like dad. but a much cooler dork than I ever was).
I don't know much guys, but I know life is pretty sweet right now!