Saturday, April 27, 2013
One Dave At A Time: Age: The Great Equalizer
One Dave At A Time: Age: The Great Equalizer: I never got the jokes my parents and their friends used to make about getting old because I hadn't experienced it yet but I'm starti...
Age: The Great Equalizer
I never got the jokes my parents and their friends used to make about getting old because I hadn't experienced it yet but I'm starting to. Now, I'm only 43 so I'm not saying I'm that old (according to me - I'm sure my 10 year old niece would think I'm old) but things are definitely changing.
One of the first things to change was my hairline. Now this started at least a decade ago and now I just shave my head completely or I'd look like Larry Fine of The Three Stooges. Despite the lack of hair on my head I seem to have an abundance of it in my ears and nose. No matter how hard I try to get rid of it in those places I always seem to miss some of them. Then there's what I call the rogue hairs. It'll be the middle of the day and I'll glance in the mirror only to see a lone hair in the middle of my forehead.
My eyesight seems to be going as well. Just over a year ago I got a new prescription. This was no ordinary prescription but bifocals. Bifocals!!! I don't know if I need a new prescription already but I find I can't read the instructions on medicine packages any longer. As a member of AA my first Big Book (the text book of AA) was what they called a mini-Big Book. The type must be about this big. I had to buy a Big Book with writing about this big. It's going to be a pain in the ass to change my highlights and notes over from one book to the other.
I believe that everyone in the world has some sort of super power. Mine used to be the ability to fall asleep any time I wanted to. I definitely got a good night's sleep 99 per cent of the time. Well, this super power has gone by the wayside. Not only can I not sleep at will when I do sleep at night it's been less and less a good night's sleep. Lately I've been waking up every hour on the hour having to pee. I went to my usual first consultant for advice - the Internet. It seems I have what's called Nocturia. I know it's not the coffee because I don't have any coffee a minimum of eight to 10 hours prior to bed. I try not to drink too much liquids throughout the whole day - so much so that I swear I'm in a constant state of dehydration. I had an issue with peeing too much all the time and got on some meds for this - it fixed the day peeing problem but the night one has just gotten worse. I will soon be stopping this med anyway as it costs a load of cash and my new job has no benefits.
Speaking of meds the amount of medications I consume has gone up as well. I take one medication that is a mental health one that is indispensable. Another is a special puffer I've been on for approximately eight months but hope to be off in a month. The respirologist said I could stop using it a month ago but that didn't work out. I'm also on cholesterol meds. When I first went on those a couple years ago the doctor said I wouldn't need them if I didn't smoke. The last time I went to see the doctor I said I had quit but he said to stay on them for a bit longer - doh!!!!!
People often quote Jack Nicholson from The Bucket List - "never trust a fart". I learned that lesson back in the day when I was a daily drinker. I used to go through a large bottle of Pepto Bismol a week in the day. The ailments I suffered then became much better in sobriety but I still suffered from stomach issues. Again I turned to the Internet and diagnosed myself with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It seems my diagnosis was wrong though. Since I quit smoking these ailments have pretty much gone by the wayside.
One thing that age has brought has been wisdom. Here's a few words of wisdom that I've come up with: music in my day was better; reality TV sucks - the only reality TV I watch is Jeopardy and the news; get off my lawn; turn that music down - just because you like it doesn't mean the rest of the street wants to; sports should have a winner and a loser - keep the damn score; stop treating your kids like pussies - when I was a kid I walked to school starting in grade one in all types of weather; and finally PULL YOUR DAMN PANTS UP!!!!!
One of the first things to change was my hairline. Now this started at least a decade ago and now I just shave my head completely or I'd look like Larry Fine of The Three Stooges. Despite the lack of hair on my head I seem to have an abundance of it in my ears and nose. No matter how hard I try to get rid of it in those places I always seem to miss some of them. Then there's what I call the rogue hairs. It'll be the middle of the day and I'll glance in the mirror only to see a lone hair in the middle of my forehead.
My eyesight seems to be going as well. Just over a year ago I got a new prescription. This was no ordinary prescription but bifocals. Bifocals!!! I don't know if I need a new prescription already but I find I can't read the instructions on medicine packages any longer. As a member of AA my first Big Book (the text book of AA) was what they called a mini-Big Book. The type must be about this big. I had to buy a Big Book with writing about this big. It's going to be a pain in the ass to change my highlights and notes over from one book to the other.
I believe that everyone in the world has some sort of super power. Mine used to be the ability to fall asleep any time I wanted to. I definitely got a good night's sleep 99 per cent of the time. Well, this super power has gone by the wayside. Not only can I not sleep at will when I do sleep at night it's been less and less a good night's sleep. Lately I've been waking up every hour on the hour having to pee. I went to my usual first consultant for advice - the Internet. It seems I have what's called Nocturia. I know it's not the coffee because I don't have any coffee a minimum of eight to 10 hours prior to bed. I try not to drink too much liquids throughout the whole day - so much so that I swear I'm in a constant state of dehydration. I had an issue with peeing too much all the time and got on some meds for this - it fixed the day peeing problem but the night one has just gotten worse. I will soon be stopping this med anyway as it costs a load of cash and my new job has no benefits.
Speaking of meds the amount of medications I consume has gone up as well. I take one medication that is a mental health one that is indispensable. Another is a special puffer I've been on for approximately eight months but hope to be off in a month. The respirologist said I could stop using it a month ago but that didn't work out. I'm also on cholesterol meds. When I first went on those a couple years ago the doctor said I wouldn't need them if I didn't smoke. The last time I went to see the doctor I said I had quit but he said to stay on them for a bit longer - doh!!!!!
People often quote Jack Nicholson from The Bucket List - "never trust a fart". I learned that lesson back in the day when I was a daily drinker. I used to go through a large bottle of Pepto Bismol a week in the day. The ailments I suffered then became much better in sobriety but I still suffered from stomach issues. Again I turned to the Internet and diagnosed myself with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It seems my diagnosis was wrong though. Since I quit smoking these ailments have pretty much gone by the wayside.
One thing that age has brought has been wisdom. Here's a few words of wisdom that I've come up with: music in my day was better; reality TV sucks - the only reality TV I watch is Jeopardy and the news; get off my lawn; turn that music down - just because you like it doesn't mean the rest of the street wants to; sports should have a winner and a loser - keep the damn score; stop treating your kids like pussies - when I was a kid I walked to school starting in grade one in all types of weather; and finally PULL YOUR DAMN PANTS UP!!!!!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
One Dave At A Time: Change
One Dave At A Time: Change: Our lives are constantly changing and when they are not we are in stagnation. Throughout my lifetime I have faced many changes. I know that ...
Change
Our lives are constantly changing and when they are not we are in stagnation. Throughout my lifetime I have faced many changes. I know that for myself, and a lot of other people, change is a scary thing. People don't like change. I remember when I was working for a media company and it brought in this whole new computer database system. The way myself and my co-workers did our job was radically changed. At first we all hated it and were full of complaints. But once we got used to the new changes we wondered how we ever did the job in the first place without the new system.
Fear of change has been a big factor in my life. It was one of the main reasons it took me so long to get sober. Near the end of my drinking and drugging career I was living in a hell of my own making. But it was a hell that I was used to and knew what to expect from. Getting sober, living life without self medicating, that was something I hadn't done in almost two decades. It was a scary proposition. I could not picture a life without alcohol. Alcohol had become my best friend. It had become my solution to life's problems - a higher power. I say higher power because, similar to the way some people dedicate their life to God, I had dedicated my life to alcohol. I planned my life around it. It determined where I would go eat, what I would do socially, how I would act, etc. When I finally sobered up, God willing for the last time, I learned that I had to replace alcohol with a different type of higher power. I had tried to sober up before without doing it that way.
The first time I decided to sober up I was an out patient at a well known treatment centre in Toronto. I would go to group meetings twice a week. I was told that I should get a hobby to replace alcohol and drugs (and the time spent using and getting them) with a hobby. I said, what the hell, I'm game to try that. After thinking long and hard I decided to build a model train. After much research I drove to a specialty shop in Toronto, spent a lot of money, and bought a train set. It took me a few weeks of setting this thing up, building the platform, putting in trees, figurines etc. I finally had the thing up and running. After completion it took very little time for me to end up just getting wasted and watching this train go around and around and around. In fact while it around my head went around as well.
What I didn't know then, but know now, is that I had to replace my addiction with something greater than it and greater than me. It had to be something substantial. I had a hole in my heart and a hole in my soul. A model train hobby would not be able to fill these holes. I needed something more spiritual. At first I picked a group of people for my higher power - this group of people were friends from the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. It worked for me then. As the years of sobriety have gone on my belief in a Higher Power has evolved and changed into something of my own understanding.
During my first years of sobriety I tried my best to change what AA terms as character defects. I worked to rid myself of them and continue to do so. I also changed my career direction going back to school. Just recently my career has taken another turn. I have left a job I had for almost five years and begun a new one in another organization. While the companies are in the same industry each one is unique to itself. My duties are different as well. After almost five years in one place these new duties are a big change and with them comes that new job anxiety/nervousness that most of us face upon changing positions. Fortunately with my experience in making and facing changes I am confident and welcome what these new changes will bring.
Fear of change has been a big factor in my life. It was one of the main reasons it took me so long to get sober. Near the end of my drinking and drugging career I was living in a hell of my own making. But it was a hell that I was used to and knew what to expect from. Getting sober, living life without self medicating, that was something I hadn't done in almost two decades. It was a scary proposition. I could not picture a life without alcohol. Alcohol had become my best friend. It had become my solution to life's problems - a higher power. I say higher power because, similar to the way some people dedicate their life to God, I had dedicated my life to alcohol. I planned my life around it. It determined where I would go eat, what I would do socially, how I would act, etc. When I finally sobered up, God willing for the last time, I learned that I had to replace alcohol with a different type of higher power. I had tried to sober up before without doing it that way.
The first time I decided to sober up I was an out patient at a well known treatment centre in Toronto. I would go to group meetings twice a week. I was told that I should get a hobby to replace alcohol and drugs (and the time spent using and getting them) with a hobby. I said, what the hell, I'm game to try that. After thinking long and hard I decided to build a model train. After much research I drove to a specialty shop in Toronto, spent a lot of money, and bought a train set. It took me a few weeks of setting this thing up, building the platform, putting in trees, figurines etc. I finally had the thing up and running. After completion it took very little time for me to end up just getting wasted and watching this train go around and around and around. In fact while it around my head went around as well.
What I didn't know then, but know now, is that I had to replace my addiction with something greater than it and greater than me. It had to be something substantial. I had a hole in my heart and a hole in my soul. A model train hobby would not be able to fill these holes. I needed something more spiritual. At first I picked a group of people for my higher power - this group of people were friends from the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. It worked for me then. As the years of sobriety have gone on my belief in a Higher Power has evolved and changed into something of my own understanding.
During my first years of sobriety I tried my best to change what AA terms as character defects. I worked to rid myself of them and continue to do so. I also changed my career direction going back to school. Just recently my career has taken another turn. I have left a job I had for almost five years and begun a new one in another organization. While the companies are in the same industry each one is unique to itself. My duties are different as well. After almost five years in one place these new duties are a big change and with them comes that new job anxiety/nervousness that most of us face upon changing positions. Fortunately with my experience in making and facing changes I am confident and welcome what these new changes will bring.
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