Puzzles, by the Six Pack
Today I am grateful for safe travels, pleasant time with extended family, and an enjoyable holiday in our own home.
I have never been one to get too caught up in presents around Christmas time, those I receive and those I give. It is only a part, not the main part, of this holiday. Presence is valued over presents.
Yesterday, though, I got an idea for a present I wanted to get myself and hadn't thought seriously about in years. Too busy. Too little time with too many other projects to work on. Too cluttered in my head and heart. So when I got an urge to do a jigsaw puzzle, I went with it. Selection was limited, so I got a six-pack of puzzles and am well under way with my first 500-piece challenge.
A six pack of puzzles or a twelve pack of beer? The choice is easy today. The puzzles pull me in for a healthy break from everything else. Tiresome thoughts ad expectations shut down as I zero in on the next piece to be added to a growing picture.
I am looking forward to how many of the six puzzles I will get done over the next days. Other kinds of puzzles have been occupying my time and thoughts too much in recent months and years. Jigsaw puzzles are welcome.
Twelve packs of beer used to pull me in for a much different break. A break from my unhealthy view of self. A break from the constant badgering of my own thoughts. And eventually, a break from the pain of it all as intoxication took hold.
I started drinking at age 14. All of the pieces of the puzzle that would define me weren't even done yet and I was dismantling pieces already in place. It takes time to replace missing pieces of self. That process started when I got sober and continues with daily recovery.
A beer at a time, I fell apart. A piece at a time, a day at a time, my life's puzzle comes together in recovery.
I have never been one to get too caught up in presents around Christmas time, those I receive and those I give. It is only a part, not the main part, of this holiday. Presence is valued over presents.
Yesterday, though, I got an idea for a present I wanted to get myself and hadn't thought seriously about in years. Too busy. Too little time with too many other projects to work on. Too cluttered in my head and heart. So when I got an urge to do a jigsaw puzzle, I went with it. Selection was limited, so I got a six-pack of puzzles and am well under way with my first 500-piece challenge.
A six pack of puzzles or a twelve pack of beer? The choice is easy today. The puzzles pull me in for a healthy break from everything else. Tiresome thoughts ad expectations shut down as I zero in on the next piece to be added to a growing picture.
I am looking forward to how many of the six puzzles I will get done over the next days. Other kinds of puzzles have been occupying my time and thoughts too much in recent months and years. Jigsaw puzzles are welcome.
Twelve packs of beer used to pull me in for a much different break. A break from my unhealthy view of self. A break from the constant badgering of my own thoughts. And eventually, a break from the pain of it all as intoxication took hold.
I started drinking at age 14. All of the pieces of the puzzle that would define me weren't even done yet and I was dismantling pieces already in place. It takes time to replace missing pieces of self. That process started when I got sober and continues with daily recovery.
A beer at a time, I fell apart. A piece at a time, a day at a time, my life's puzzle comes together in recovery.
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