SERENITY...

...The state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled

I read something given to me just the other day that read:

"Serenity is not the absence of conflict but the ability to cope with it."

As I quickly approach my one year anniversary, I take this quote very seriously. SERENITY is a word I have concentrated on for many months now. My sobriety and lifestyle change came with a very emotional start. I said good bye to not only the alcohol, but to a lifestyle that was slowly killing me. I allowed stress and emotions to drive me directly to that bottle of deep dark red liquid of deeper hell! Yes, deeper! For when that bottle ended, I had fallen further into that hole of a very dark, temporarily forgotten, damaging and emotional conflict which persisted below the level of consciousness. At the time it may have discolored my world, my personality, and altered my concept of perception completely. But it also discolored my personality and altered my life for the worse. This past year I have had to learn how to cope with the stress and the conflicts that I encounter in a different way. I chose exercise, healthy eating, lots of water, and writing. I encountered so many emotional things along this journey of mine, but the toughest of all challenges was the SERENITY! I did not completely understand that word until only a couple of weeks ago. I have learned that its not the conflict that I need to overcome, yet the way I choose to except and react to it...and I choose SERENITY.