December 25th, 2016 The Waiting

December 25th, 2016 The Waiting

Noah stayed the night and I gotta tell you--that little man is an absolute joy to see in the morning. He's always happy!

He opened a couple things this morning, but the real big day will be tomorrow at his Nana's house. We're getting together, all of us-tomorrow at Irene and Allen's house. Mom will join us too! Christmas is delayed a day around here. It's absolutely driving Noah crazy waiting for his toy gifts! The waiting is the hardest part! Today he opened clothing and shoes. He immediately said, "another!" He was shooting for the toys, not clothing and shoes!!

Today's dinner with mom at the nursing center turned out to be very easy. I asked a couple of sugar questions-- and basically, kept it super simple. I was impressed with their food quality. The turkey was fresh roasted turkey--and I didn't expect it. No roll and no pie, of course--and I was refined sugar free.

Tomorrow is the big family gathering day. And going into it, I'll revisit my plan from Christmas's past.

I found an excerpt from December 25th, 2014--and it fits:

Once you know the truth, you can't un-know it. It's from where the expression "recovery is a buzz kill" comes. I've had many Christmas times in my past where it was a feeding frenzy from the moment I got out of bed until I dropped, stuffed and sick, and pleading "someone, please pass the Zantac." 

It is entirely possible to know the truth and choose to ignore it. I've done that before, too. 

The truth is, excessive food on Christmas or any other day, doesn't make anything better. It doesn't enhance the experience. It's an artificial alternative for the experiences and things that bring us fulfillment and joy. Maybe we don't know what the authentic things are, so in our search we find our substance instead. Then we beat our head against the wall doing it over and over again and expecting it to be the real deal, when it never will be what we're truly searching.

It's in this understanding where those of us in active recovery realize the truth and set our boundaries accordingly. I still get to eat, but with ironclad rules, specifically designed for me.

"...designed for me." That's the critically important thing.

I'm looking forward to taking plenty of pictures tomorrow, It'll be a great day, I'm sure!

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget. I remained abstinent from refined sugar, I met my daily water goal. And I enjoyed several excellent support conversations!

Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean