This Year *I* Will Be Different
Aunt Becky challenged me to write an “I Will” post… Here’s my crack at it:
This is a year of major changes for me. The title is paraphrased from a book by one of my favorite authors, Maeve Binchy, who died a few years ago. One of the lessons I’ve taken from her books is that kindness matters and change is sometimes incremental, but the opportunities to change abound.
First the Goals:
- Meet Baby (due end of June)
- Complete Probation (October, possibly sooner)
- Complete the 12 steps (currently on Step 4, which sucks, but I am finding valuable)
- Start School (Sign Language Interpreting Program)
- Graduate Treatment (possibly this month?)
- Move into my own apartment (hopefully by March)
Resolutions:
- Stay sober (110 days and counting)
- Eat regularly
- Practice healthy boundaries – especially removing unhealthy and negative people from my life and saying “no” to things that jeopardize my values/goals/self
- Re-engage with Church
- Practice gratitude
- Learn to manage anger without becoming self-destructive
- Stay Present and Enjoy the Journey
- Practice Forgiveness – especially of myself
- Give back
- Never Stop Learning
- Make good choices (especially financial ones)
- Daily Maintenance (this is a concept from NA – aka The Four Simple Things: 1. pray honesty, out loud; 2. talk to another addict, preferably one sponsor or someone else with more clean time, honestly; 3. read literature daily; and 4. do something nice for someone else).
But the Over-Riding Theme?
I Will Become a Better Version Of Myself
Not too tall an order right??? LOL
