Places In-between

I haven’t talked about myself much lately, or my latest thoughts on life, so I thought I’d share what I’ve been reflecting on and do a little illustration to mirror my mood. (I’ll get back to my story very soon!)

I saw this quote several months back and thought it was one of the best that I’d seen in a while:

“Stop being extreme, and start being consistent.” 

The first thing I thought to myself was… oh my God, I need to send this to my son.

Of course, the problem with that is that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I know where he gets his tendencies! 

I think that in recovery, and in life in general, balance and consistency are so very important. It’s important to be consistent and have ‘a little of this, and a little of that’. Not so much that it borders on excessive or extreme.

Of course, this rule does not apply to sobriety. One drinky poo is never good. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. 

Take politics for example. There’s far right and far left. But, if you want to be honest (and on the fence), the world would be a much better place if we could find a balance – the perfect happy medium. 

Well, in my mind, my thoughts, my moods, my projects and ideas… they often move in extreme directions like that – far right and far left. I obsess about one thing – and then I get sick of it. I quit, and then start on something new. The result: lack of consistency.

In my family (from my DNA on down), we often suffer from black and white thinking, or all or nothing. This is good, that is bad. This is what I love, that is what I hate. 

Anyway, that, I think, is the root of our extremism. Not in politics now, or some social fanaticism, either – I’m talking about our personal thoughts, like how we see ourselves, and how we navigate through life. 

My point here is that the solution is so simple. It’s about staying in the middle, in the places in-between. Self-love is OK, but don’t stroke your own ego so much that your pride explodes.

Hobbies are fun, but don’t become so obsessed that you suck the joy out of them. I think that’s also how alcoholism and/or addictions manifest: with the belief that if something is good, then more MUST be better!

It’s the same with pretty much everything. Don’t be extreme! Chill. Take it easy. Don’t rev the engine so hard, just stay on course. Do a little of this and a little of that. Be slow if you need to be, but be consistent.

And be content with that. 

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So, that about sums up my thoughts (as condensed as possible).

As for the illustration, I thought the image was a good fit for tonight’s mindset. I started with a photograph of a pier, and then I illustrated the path, the fencing, and the lights in Illustrator.

Then I motion blurred an ocean sunset image in Photoshop to create the various tones and the horizon line. I also added the sun and the human silhouettes with AI in Photoshop Beta.

And there you have it! A Zen-like image about taking things easy and finding joy in the balance.

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I know this journaling post was a bit off the track I’ve been on, but it was a nice little vacation mind-wander for my mind… thanks for reading it! I hope you enjoyed my words and/or illustration.

I’ll be back soon to add a new chapter to the record store saga!

Until then,

Peace and Love…