Yesterday I sat in a meeting where the discussion was directed
to newcomers. How to handle stress? What is self-care in recovery? I was eating
mints to stave off my hunger and I was dizzy with tiredness from too many days on
too many deadlines. When I drifted away from listening to the discussion I was
in a reverie of “What I’m gonna say…” anger fantasies. And I felt very alone in
all of this.
Luckily one speaker pierced my fog and I heard her say to
the newcomer, “We have some simple advice and the acronym is HALT: never get
too hungry, angry, lonely or tired.” And I heard her. And I thought, “I am a
goner.” I had it all: hungry, anger, tired and so lonely too.
I came home and wrote it on a card. And then the hard part:
What am I going to do about it? I decided to have a simple supper sooner rather
than later, I worked through one of my deadlines and deferred the next one to
today. The anger needs more processing and the lonely too needs conversation with
other recovering people. But I’m keeping that H.A.L.T. note in front of me.
It sneaks up again and again.
