60!!!

Celebration!! Set it off!!!

Welcome to day sixty!!!

There’s not much else to say but that I am happy I made it!!!

As promised, I’d like to take this time to give a special thank you to Evil Squirrel.  You were the first to discover my little project, and your “comments” and “likes” were and continue to be an encouragement to me.  Not to mention I enjoy reading your blog immensely!

To my reader from Australia, gentlestitches, thanks for giving this squirrel some international attention!  I know there aren’t any squirrels over there . . . I am thankful for your kind words and encouragement.  They are a great help!

Finally, viewsfromsue, thank you for taking the time to read.  My thoughts are with you as you also continue your journey.  Keep it up!!

To everyone I haven’t mentioned, I DO appreciate your time in reading what I have to say.  Thank you for taking the time to encourage me as I progress through this, one day at a time.

P. Squirrel out!

59!!

A feast fit for a squirrel!

Wow . . . sixty days tomorrow.  If you had asked me two months ago if I thought I could make it this far, it would have been a difficult question to answer.  For sure it hasn’t been easy, but it has most certainly been worth it.

Tomorrow I’ll have a special post thanking everyone that has made a special contribution to my recovery by giving my thoughts and feelings an audience, helping me to feel like a part of something bigger.  For now, a big thank you!

As Phase II is nearing a close I need to make progress in contacting someone to do some talk-therapy with in Phase III.  Although I didn’t really have any particular plan when I started this, my 3-phase plan has been working well for me so far.  No, I’m not planning on marketing this as a program to other addicted squirrels (but hey if it helps you go for it!) . . . it’s more for me to have some planning and metrics.  And it seems to be paying off!

“Phase I” was what could be considered a detoxification phase, dealing with a lot of the physical pain of withdraw and the ups and downs that went along with that.  “Phase II” was a realignment phase where I started to really reap the benefits of not using.  But there are still more challenges ahead, and more things that are unclear and I need to figure out.  “Phase III” will include some counseling so I can get to the root of some of the issues I’ve had over the course of my messed up life.

Bottom line, being to almost sixty days feels amazing!  I think I’ll celebrate with a sandwich!

P. Squirrel out!

Reality check . . .

It’s difficult to remember the reality of that fact that even though one is no longer using does not mean that all your problems disappear and the world is a perfect place.

In other words, just because I’ve stopped using nuts to deal with the stress of my problems, doesn’t mean that those problems that are not nut related are solved, or just go away.  I think people will be angry when they realize that there are so many more issues in life than can be dealt with easily, and that they don’t disappear once you get clean.

On the other hand paw, how thankful am I that on top of all the other problems I don’t have one more looming, weighing me down, and adding to the overall sense of misery?  How much worse would it be to have to deal with life’s issues AND the imbalance and uncertainty that come from sustaining an active nut addiction?  I must remember to be happy for this!

The “tail” end . . . bushy tail end!

And on the “tail-end” of things (pun intended!), I have noticed as of late, a pronounced and definite improvement in mental clarity and acuity, which goes to show that the detriments of nut abuse are far reaching and, although easy to dismiss at the time, cause very real changes in a person.  Fortunately, we do recover!

P. Squirrel out!

58 . . .

57!

Stop – in the name of squirrel!

Just try to stop me!  60 days here I come. =)

56!

“Don’t even think of trying to follow me up here!”

Four more days to go until 60 days . . . feels surreal.

55!

My version of pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving!

54!

Squirrel with attitude.

When not using is not enough . . .

For those in recovery, there is a period of time when the joy of being free from whatever you are addicted to is motivation enough to stay clean.  This will last for a certain amount of time, depending on the individual, but it never lasts forever.

That’s where I find myself at the moment.  Fortunately I can look back and realize how many advantages there are to staying clean: no lies, no hiding, no shame!  And of course there are many more advantages – but there comes a point when just not using is not enough.  Therefore, in order to continue my journey, and make sure that I make it another 53 days (and beyond), after avoiding the human catastrophe that is Thanksgiving and the retail mania that follows I will be seeking some kind of professional counseling.

Some may wonder – will it be hard to find a therapist who feels comfortable talking with a squirrel?  To those people, how do you know it is a HUMAN therapist?  There are many fine sciurine therapists who I can pick from.  I think that’s the point I’m at now.  There are so many things that I know the answers to, and so many things I still haven’t figured out yet.  I think some guidance may help me do that.

The struggle continues – I shall be victorious!

P. Squirrel out!

53! (Squirrel art)

Stretching squirrel.

For today I have some artistic squirrel renderings to share.  Lately all my efforts to get good squirrel pictures have been hampered by low light, but thanks to the magic of Photoshop, I have some squirrel-worthy images to share!  Our first image features an out of focus squirrel stretching in mid frame (although the chain-link fence is in excellent focus)!

Through the magic of Photoshop, let your squirrelness be revealed!

Our same squirrel friend has jumped up onto the branch above and stops to survey the surroundings.  Although the sky has become totally blown out, there’s quite a bit of detail on this squirrel from the curve filter I applied.

Squirrel silhouette – what an artsy squirrel!

Here’s an example of using the curve filter in a totally opposite way, to obfuscate your subject in a silhouette!  While I am being a rather wordy squirrel, I am super-stoked on the results!  Instead of a strictly vérité approach, this felt like more of an art project.

P. Squirrel out!

 

P.S. I uploaded these at full resolution so feel free to click on the images to view them full size in all their squirrely detail!