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 enabling me to let go of the poison emo