Turn and face the strain, ch-ch-changes There's gonna have to be a different man          - David Bowie Despite the blogging hiatus, my recovery journey has never stopped. Since I last posted I sold my home of four years, changed cities and jobs. I've discovered a vast, vibrant recovery community in my new hometown. I picked up my FIVE year sober chip, for God's sakes. And  I am ever reminded that working the 12 steps is not a singular linear progression with a beginning and end, but rather a circular pattern of ascendancy in which each successful completion of step twelve is met with a new understanding of step one, a leveling up of a spiral staircase of enlightenment, with each round building on the lessons of the previous.  In reality, climbing the spiral sobriety staircase of so-called recovery utopia is neither steady nor consistent. I'd love to sit there and say that 2021 allowed me to reach levels of awakening and expansion enabli...