DILEMMA

I will NOT white-knuckle my sobriety. This will not be a struggle. Struggle is Un-fun and Boring, and I have a very low tolerance for un-fun, boring things.

The beauty—and the curse—of sobriety is that I now have the gift of Time; the logical conclusion is that I need a Long-term Plan to fill that time.

These activities must be fun and interesting Things To Do When You Don't Drink. Reality check: my attention span rivals that of a 5-year old.

Ah, the dilemma.

A natural outgrowth of my sobriety does seem to be that I am now waking at 5:30 AM. I haven't seen consecutive 5:30 AM's without an extenuating circumstance—Ever.

Day 15.

STRONG BODY, STRONG MIND

6:15 AM: (Two days in a row I'm awake at 6:00. How can this be?)

A few days ago, the suggestion was made to write out how I visualize my life 5 years from now. I thought that was a really, really good idea—with one caveat. I think I'll start with just a year. 5 seems, somehow, a bit much.

This weblog is intended to serve as a chronicle of the many ways Life is better without alcohol—a reminder of why I choose to abstain. I forgot those reasons the last time and was blind-sided by the tricky bastard.

So here it is: I want my strength back. I used to be so physically strong I could do 30 successive abdominal crunches on an incline bench holding a 25-pound iron barbell weight (try that with a hangover). I could complete 3 sets of 10 leg lifts (both legs at a 90-degree angle from my hips) while supporting my entire weight suspended in a roman chair, and my upper arms were sculpted to perfection (this was before women began working en masse with free weights). I miss that body.

DAY 13.