April Gratitude
This is a Gratitude post to all those who are supporting me and giving me the abundance of love and light to help me grow.
Everyday,
I am in awe of how of how much God is giving me and how people are showing up in my life and giving me exactly what I need. He’s working miracles and it’s truly amazing. I don’t even know how to explain it y’all, my sponsor says that I am a" lap lander" and I am living on potential and I’ve heard I have so much potential my whole life and I’m very grateful for that. I’m grateful for all the assets. I’ve been blessed with and that I’ve been giving not only just this life, but multiple lives, and I’m here today to share those stories to share those successes but through all those trials and tribulations they were ugly.
They were painful and I’ve learned that I had to endure the pain.
Beauty is pain.
The Lotus Flower
“Out of the mud of your fears, struggles, pain and confusion, the lotus flower of your inner heart will spontaneously grow.” – Anon I Mus
Heather, a peer support coach at Serenity Star in Smithville, Texas once said," that in order for you to heal and you have to go through the pain, you can’t go around it, you can’t go under it, you have to go through it"
She is exactly right that’s what the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is about. The 12 steps help you walk though the pain, looking at yourself in the mirror, looking at the resentments that you hold, and looking at your part in it. That is the hardest part, looking at my part. I still have to have a constant reminder every day thank you for my beautiful sponsor Jennifer, who has helped me through this process and fought with me since December 2023 when I left rehab and started going to AA meetings, she asked me if I need to sponsor.
Honestly, there are so many great things in my life happening today
1. I’m sober !
2. I have a full-time job and I’ve been working for about four months straight
3. I have been living at a sober house and maintaining living with other alcoholics and addicts and building a life of discipline
4. I started this website/blog www.doit4ditka.com, as a way being vulnerable about my journey through recovery in life and my come back, and that the pain and the suffering of the past is some thing that has given me new wings & new beauty
5. I’m a registered artist at an art studio
I have an art show on this Saturday at 4:20 called Call pancakes, and booze. It’s a pop-up art show and yes I’m an alcoholic and recovery I am doing an art show called pancakes and brews booze on 4/20 which is a known date for smoking marijuana.
However, I will not be better taking in those at festivities.
I am completely sober, and I plan to remain sober because my life is unmanageable when I drink or drug. I am powerless over alcohol and drugs so I am I asked that everyone that knows and supports me and in recovery to come visit because I will definitely need your support!
7. I’m rebuilding of those family relationships.
I was invited to visit my Aunt Cherilynn and Uncle Steve in Charleston, South Carolina and then I also have a planned trip to go see my father and his new beautiful wife SYDNEY in Colorado Springs.
I also was greeted with a beautiful godmother name Aly who came in my life when I have been asking and praying God for a maternal Family member because I am here in Texas all alone. I don’t have any family here and Austin and I’ve been really lonely and scared and so she came in my life right at the right time.
8. I’m also grateful for my little doggie DITKA, he is been such a blessing. Ditka got his new summer teddy bear haircut the other day and I’m just so grateful that I can take care of him.
When I take him out, he always gets a splurge of compliments, anything from, "he looks like a teddy bear" to "I thought he was a stuffed animal that fell from the shelf (when I was grocery shopping with him at H-E-B).
9. My Health -
Today,
April 18, 2024
I am healthy:
Spiritually, physically and emotionally and mentally!
I’ve lost a total of 50 pounds
50 pounds since December 1 of 2023
How? Simple- DIET- nutrition and exercise
I’ve been eating primarily vegan food and supplementing it with other vitamins and minerals as well & protein powder from plants such as hemp and peas. I found a new one at Trader Joe’s shelled hemp seeds that I add to my yogurts now some foods I do eat a little dairy because it’s hard to get away. I still like dairy but I don’t typically eat chicken or steak and try to eat mainly plant-based but because of the threats of biodiversity, and what the meat market has done to our planet. I will go on about this another day, but for now lets stick to gratitude.
10. I’m grateful for all my beautiful plants. I have so many beautiful plants that I’ve been fostering and cultivating new growth and it’s really beautiful process.
From a tiny seed such beautiful creations come forth.
Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin, Texas on Easter Sunday 2024
DITKA DO'IN HIS DAILY DUTY!
I’m just thankful for having all this energy and abundance of love that flowed in from on so many different people and so many different opportunities and I just can’t wait to see what’s next so thank y’all for your support and love, and I hope the best for everyone and if you ever need help 988 is the national crisis for mental health and suicide and you can always shoot me a message and I will try to be helpful. If I if I can if I don’t know the answer, I’ll find you a resource of someone that can be of support or help to you. Thank you and God bless.
Avant-Garden Party at Blanton Art Museum
April 17,2024
Elias & Ditka painting together at Imagine Art in Austin, Texas April 2024
Acrylic on canvas in process..
