No I don’t mean the obvious innuendo. We had some very cold weather this winter. It kept a lot of us in with canceled work and meetings, etc. One of the first days for it to pass, I had a dentist appointment. My dentist’s office is downtown, one of the few things I enjoy about going to the dentist besides his wry sense of humor. While I was down there I decided to park the car and go exploring. I don’t spend a lot of time downtown despite the fact it’s about a mile and half from my house. I saw the construction of the new library and that made me think of its temporary location. I had a former colleague who worked there and hadn’t seen her in a while. The day was warm enough to take the chill off but I still needed a sweater. I enjoyed being outside and enjoyed the sun on my face. I spent a little time in the temporary building of the library then decided to find the grocery story that was also downtown. I remember being downtown in the 80s and it being very quiet. That day there was much traffic and construction with there being a resurgence in businesses in the area; at least during the day. I found the store and walked in to a store that catered to a sophisticated clientele. There was everything to common items to find in a grocery store to a wide variety of wine. I say all this to say, I may have bought a 10 cent book and had my teeth cleaned, but I enjoyed the peace of spending time alone, and exploring downtown. I didn’t eat anything and didn’t think about food except a little in the grocery store. It was peaceful. And I walked about 2 miles that day.

My question to you, dear readers, is how is this related to program?

Anne B

From Terri B

The question asked at the end of “Spend Time With Yourself” was how is finding peaceful time for oneself related to program. As I have spent the last three years of my life in a loud, chaotic environment, I appreciate peace more than ever. Peace to me is a vital component of self-care and the Big Book demonstrates through stories that self-care is vital for refreshing our vigilance over and over.against this pernicious, unrelenting disease. The Big Book let me know that willpower is useless but being ever on guard against trigger situations is paramount.

For me, quiet to think is important to my program as it keeps my stress and anger levels down. Don’t get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired is a list of conditions that distract from vigilance against this monster disease that seems determined to control my life. I get angry when I am overwhelmed. I get overwhelmed when life is loud and chaotic. Doing what refreshes me is a way to do self-care. The need to refresh myself to stay vigilant is demonstrated by stories in the Big Book.

At the moment, some of my ways to refresh are not available and my need to spend time with myself is hard to get; but awareness of the nature of my disease helps me focus and the rarity of alone time is precious to me. Anne’s shared story shows me that you can spend time with yourself even when surrounded by others. I believe the Big Book could do with an addendum that includes Anne’s tale of her day. Thank you for sharing Anne.