Starting a new life of recovery is always difficult with a whole host of challenges. While most of the World is sleeping, I’m awake purposely because I work the night shift (overnights). It’s Winter where I live and it’s unexpectedly brutal outside, so I have to find other things to do. Despite these challenges and others, I am committed to stay sober and will be grateful when all is said and done.

When one starts recovery, they go through withdrawal from the substance. This experience can range from mild to severe depending on the person and length of how long the person has been addicted to the substance. I just started a recovery journey after a two to three year alcoholic bender. At the end I was drinking anywhere from four to six beers a night on workdays to more than 48 beers (a thirty pack and 15 pack plus) on weekends. I was expecting the worst. Thankfully, I have not had a rough road at all during my “detox” period. However, there are cases where withdrawal can appear again in ones future without them noticing it. So I must be persistent and vigilant in my observations. For now, I’m actually doing quite well.

As mentioned in other posts on this blog, I work for a major retailer on the night shift (overnights). For the last couple of decades I have also worked this shift with other employers. I have a set schedule when I go to bed and when I wake up. Weekends are on Monday and Tuesdays. Despite the loneliness, I surround myself with a list of projects from playing games, genealogy and learning programming. It just depends on my mood what I dabble into. The point here is that when I drink, nothing gets accomplished because I just from one project to another and back again. Then I forget what I did and do it all over again and again and again.

Winter doesn’t help. For the next three to four months temperatures here will drop enough where it is not comfortable to go outside. What does one do when nothing is open? Either I just walk around the block or I take long trip playing Pokemon Go. I haven’t done that since my last sobriety, thus I need to find other things to do going back to my project list.

I play a game I’ve been involved in since 2006, Achaea – Dreams of Divine Lands. It is not, at all, a kind of game people play today with all graphics and popular games kids play today. Back then it was a time of no graphics, dial in modems and Telenet which was played around the World. It’s all old school..text character based, role playing, guilds, cities, questing, combat, etc set in a medieval type time period. The game evolves based on how we (the adventurers) interact with other. The Gods (admin) throw in some other things to get other things going too. This game has brought my experience of programming to a whole new level (however, it is NOT needed to play the game..it just enhances the experience).

Anywho, I could talk for HOURS about this game. Moving on..

Where was I? Oh, a passion of mine – programming. I have an Associates degree in Computer Science. Unfortunately, I have never been able to use it in the real world. But I still enjoy programming when I get the chance. I have learned HTML, PHP, MYSQL on my own, thus attempted to incorporate it when playing the game (to keep track of things for myself). Again, over the years, I start it, scrap it, start it over and never ending cycle continues. Today, I hope, to stop that cycle. “Rome wasn’t build in day” and neither will this for what I have planned.

Alright, I think I have a plan for this weekend and need to get to it. Honestly, at the present moment, I have no desire to drink. Have I thought about it? Yes, there are moments it has occurred but either I have said the Serenity Prayer or searched for something to read about sobriety to help abate the feeling. Honestly, saying it out loud makes me nervous for some reason (taking deep breaths).

The gauntlet has been cast down. Challenge accepted. We shall prevail!