DEALING WITH FAMILY

Dealing (or NOT dealing) with family in sobriety. Family is a HUGE trigger for me. Family can just irritate the shit out of me— they know where all my fucking buttons are— ugh…..annoying, BUT, I can either choose to let them get to me or not. Some days are better than others— meaning, if I’m taking care of myself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, then I’m less likely to REACT. That’s the thing, I can either REACT or RESPOND. Responding is way better. Hey, the less amends I have to make, the better. I hate making amends and I rarely use the word hate. And sleep— getting enough sleep is important, but I don’t usually make sleep a priority and I pay for that fucking shit. I can make excuses ALL day about why I don’t get to bed at a decent hours, but that doesn’t change anything— I’m the one who suffers. Ugh…..

And PAUSING. Pausing is KEY. The more I pause, the less amends I have to make. The old me would like to shoot off an angry text or email in the heat of things, but now, I’d say 90% of the time, I pause and run it by a friend before making a stupid mistake. And then other times, I’m not so gracious and I let my emotions get the better of me. Live and learn. That’s the deal— you can learn something from EVERY SINGLE INCIDENT in life— if you’re willing to.