Get Away From Me

"We want the solitary hours as long as it has a spirit and aliveness.  It is in the quiet times that we build our strengths and know we have something to rely on.  Solitude is not withdrawal into a place where no one and no sound can penetrate.  It is a sweet moment of peace with or without other people that lets us recenter and reset the rhythm of the mind, body, and spirit."

Isolation:  The near or complete lack of social contact by an individual; the condition of being alone, especially when this makes you unhappy (evidence links social isolation with unhappiness, depression, poor sleep quality, and accelerated cognitive decline.)

Solitude:  The situation of being alone, often by choice; the state of being alone without being lonely.

Today I've been clean and sober for thirty-seven years, more or less, since it was so fuzzy at the end I'm not exactly sure when I quit the drug use.  So let's say it's today.  Today is as good as any day.  Here's the math: I spend about two hours a day on my recovery, including a Quiet Time, social interaction like phone calls and coffees and walk, and the whole meeting process which involves getting there and getting home and the meeting and the meeting before the meeting and the meeting after the meeting.  Let's say fifteen hours a week.  Times fifty-two makes about eight hundred hours a year.  Times thirty-seven years and we're at around 29,600 hours. That's a shit-ton of recovery effort, shit-ass.  Whew.  But know what?  It's nothing given the life I've lived.  And one of the biggest benefits is the end of isolation and the beginning of a true companionship with my fellow man.