I may not have gone where I intended to go,
but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
-- Douglas Adams
My first very first post on this blog was April 24, 2008.
(When I go back and read those earlier essays I wince; I was trying so hard...)
And today, this posting marks my 2000th.
With one accidental interruption of a couple of months (fueled by sloth and procrastination) back in 2012, I have been posting something new -- even if it was just a brief observation or quote -- five days a week, Monday thru Friday, for the whole run. (Actually, for the first several months I posted something new seven days a week, but that just about killed me, so I took the weekends off).
I love writing this blog.
In fact, I think it's fair to say writing this blog turned me into a writer. (What kind of a writer is really up to each individual reader of course -- as is true of all writing -- but there are some pieces here I'm pretty proud of, prose-wise.)
In some ways I've been an excellent blogger, in that you could really count on something new every day. (Yes, yes, except for that one brief stretch in 2012. As records go, I still think that's not bad.) And I've always been pretty good about pruning the spam postings out of the Comments Section(s).
In other ways I have been incredibly lazy. The "Subscribe to this blog's Feed" link has never worked properly, and I just never bothered to learn how to fix it.
Also, I vastly overestimated my ability to personally correspond with the Internet, and after a valiant attempt was quickly overwhelmed by email. I randomly posted questions received via the "Email Me" link in the "Questions via Email" section, and hopefully that was a good jumping off point for sober consideration when I did so. My lack of timely responses was its own eventual solution; the inbox volume dwindled. I always felt I over-promised and under-delivered on that front.
I'm working on wrapping up the second Mr. SponsorPants book (I've been saying that for a while, but I really am), and am definitely going to keep the blog up and running.
But I am going to let go of the commitment to post something new, five days a week, Monday thru Friday.
There will continue to be new postings, but they will be irregular. Several in a week sometimes -- other times probably fewer.
After eight years and 2000 posts I need to change it up and redistribute my energy a little.
To the regular readers, those of you who check back daily, I am grateful for your time and attention. At the risk of repeating myself, I'm not stopping. But hopefully this change in commitment will give me time and space to refresh what I do here, and provide maybe a little more quality in exchange for a little less quantity.
The internet is full of excellent recovery blogs, and there are many "daily reader" recovery/spiritual books out there suitable for either the bathroom or your favorite meditation chair. (Lucky me, sometimes the bathroom IS my favorite meditation chair! Woo!) So if you fear your routine is going to be disrupted feel free to come back and enjoy the archives, but probably the far, far better course is to explore new voices while popping back here every couple of days or so to see what's new.
Staying sober in AA has changed my life in such profound, amazing ways; expressing that fully via these bits of online writing has been a sometimes daunting challenge, but doing so revitalized my program when I really needed it, and (not to be too dramatic about it) likely saved my life.
I'm grateful to everyone who has read, corresponded, lurked, challenged, criticized and shared.
It's all made me both a better AA and a better writer.
As always when it comes to recovery, I feel I owe more than I can ever repay.
Not
The End,
just
A Change.
Love,
Mr. SponsorPants
