The Power of Dreams...

It may sound incredibly cheesy, but life after FIRSTEP has been way better than I possibly could've imagined. I've managed to STAY SOBER... I'm almost 8 months sober! Absolutely crazy. I think my honest record of sobriety before might've been a month, maybe two?! I have no idea where this strength and willpower is coming from, because it's totally not me...

I've been staying plugged into the program, working with my sponsor and going to meetings. I have even been fortunate enough to get to bring some of the FIRSTEP guys out to meetings with me occasionally. I also have had the opportunity to sponsor some of the guys and help them along with their step work and phasing up. Sponsorship and being committed to those guys adds a whole new level of effort I'm putting into my sobriety. I know I need to do it for me, and I definitely am, but it helps knowing that I have guys that I don't want to let down or disappoint either.

I've been working for SOS for a little over a month and I absolutely love it. It takes working in an office/administrative atmosphere that I'm comfortable in and adds in getting to work in an environment where I'm working FOR and WITH other people who are wanting to get sober and stay sober. I am fortunate enough to get to take my experiences, which I once considered shameful, and use them as a tool and a way for me to help people who are going through similar or worse situations. I can definitely see me staying here for quite some time.

My relationships continue to grow in and out of the program. Moving back in the with the parents after FIRSTEP, I've tried my best to be an additional asset to the family rather than drag them down and be a negative presence. I'm hopeful that they've noticed the differences in me day in and day out. Megan and I continue to grow, spending as much time as we can together. I'm lucky that she's understanding that my schedule (for now) has to stay pretty full with things that are going to help me stay sober.

With the job plugging along, it seems like life could be getting better financially, one step at a time. One of the first steps to "normalcy" was working with Mom and Nick on getting another car! After a very weird and jumpy (we went from one type of car to another pretty willy-nilly) search, I found a 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid that I absolutely fell in love with. The deal was phenomenal and so far she has been a great little car. Her name is Maxine and (hopefully) I see her sticking around for a while.

While I don't think I have the whole sobriety thing down packed, I'm definitely the most comfortable with it that I've ever been in the seven-plus years of trying/not trying. That being said, I've started another endeavor and taken on the dubious task of bringing my weight down to a more acceptable level. I was definitely already a big guy pre-FIRSTEP, more than likely hitting that point where I was the heaviest that I've ever been. Then FIRSTEP came along, and they fed me quite well, so I continued to grow. I knew that I was borderline 300 pounds, if not a little over. So, after I got paid, Mom and I decided to start back on Weight Watchers. So far, it has been the ONLY program that I've lost weight with, while still being somewhat healthy. My first weigh-in was at a whopping 288.4 pounds. Geeeeeeez. After two weeks of weigh-ins and I'm already down 10.8 pounds! I think I'm setting my goal for 200 and see how I feel/look at that point...

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The other day, I got a random text message from my friend Shanna that sent a chill down my spine. It read:

"I had a really important dream about you last night and it felt like a message. We were in a big group of people, eating lunch. You were happy, settled in a community of people who care about you and are working towards the good. You were also settled perfectly in your body, which I felt very strongly was perfect as it is."

While I've been somewhat in contact with Shanna, I hadn't really heard from her lately. I was super-busy with my life after FIRSTEP and she recently had her first baby with Tye, so they were DEFINITELY busy. I hadn't really done a good job of keeping in contact with her for a week or so when she randomly sent me that text. It was just so weird, because I had just been having one of those moments where I was thinking to myself how much my life seemed to be coming together. I'm sober. I'm happy. I'm actually okay with my body for once. Everything is good. Those things that aren't so good are even okay, and I'm learning how to deal with them and stay sober. I'm in a really positive headspace for the first time in a LONG time.

I believe very strongly in the importance and meanings behind dreams. Hell, I've taken classes on the subject matter before. So I find it pretty incredible and spot-on that this message came to Shanna. Hopefully it was the universe letting her know, "hey, you're friend John? He's going to be A-OK after all..."