MondayOctober 13, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Nothing Personal

      That night my laptop allowed me to get on the internet, but wouldn't let me access files on the hard drive.  I called Jason The IT Guru.

     "I can get online, but I can't access the files I need to send to people," I said.  "I think my laptop is deliberately teasing me.  The error messages are just its way of rubbing it in."

     "Log on tomorrow from your office and I will look online for a solution," he said.

     "You can look, but I think the problem is personal. This glorified Etch-A-Sketch hates me 'cause I never mention it in my blogs."

     "Ken, take a deep breath.  It's a machine.  It neither hates nor loves you."

     For a second I thought he was probably right.  Then it occurred to me that nobody spent more time with these machines than Jason.  Had he gone over to their side?  I made a note to see that movie about the guy who falls in love with a computer program.

     "You're right," I said, downplaying my suspicions.  "It's nothing personal, just a minor failure in some program somewhere." I wondered how Jason could have learned nothing from the Terminator movies.

Today I won't take it personally when technology fails me.

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

Upcoming  Trainings

Five MISA Groups (and pointers on running them)
October 15, 2014 at Kerr Presbyterian Church in Verona
9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m
$50 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This five hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• Nurses by the PSNA #101-1-O-14
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

To register, please visit our website greenbriartraining.com or send an email to: kmontrose@greenbriar.net

Other Blogs

AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery, can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7165781-betwixt-and-between

RPG

No quitter

Julie had struggled to stay clean while part of the AArdvarks, a group I had run a year earlier.  Julie was always trying to find a new way to stay clean and sober. She had tried limiting her drinking to wine made from local grapes.   After that she had embraced what she called the "supplemental cure."  She had been convinced the right combination of herbs and supplements would kill her desire to use alcohol and other drugs.  Her last effort had been a combination of saunas and extreme exercise geared to sweating away the addiction.

"I want to quit trying to get clean," she said, "but I can't."  She managed a weak smile.  "Am I crazy?  It would be so much easier to sink into Valium and wine."

"So why are you here?" I asked trying not to sound judgmental.  I wanted her to tap into whatever kept her coming back to treatment.

"I can't quit trying to quit! I want to, but I can't.  There's just part of me that won't let me quit trying." She laughed a little and muttered something under her breath.  I thought about an entire season I had spent shuffling between the end of the bench and the coach's doghouse.  I had to talk myself out of quitting daily.  I had thought that season was a complete waste of time.  But, I had learned I was tougher than I thought, and I gained the pride that comes from not giving up. Those lessons served me well early in recovery.

Today I will tap into whatever won't let me quit trying.

RPG: Relapse Prevention Group © 2014 by Ken Montrose