One Step Closer

2Hi everyone… I have been away for a while and I am sorry for that. I started my last semester at college, am working on the finalization of Poetry through Recovery and… well, see that picture? That is my cover for my first full-length novel which will have a release date very soon!

I got a few more rejections from some publishers and literary agents, but I am not giving up. I have faith in this story and the writing style. I love this story and know that because I love it, this book will be a huge success.

In other news, one of my personal essays was accepted into an anthology for 2019! I am super excited about this and will release more information when I get it.

I think about all the times I ever wanted to give up on myself; all the times that I felt like everyone gave up on me. All those times I was so close to suicide and not being able to find one reason to hold on. Still, somehow I forced myself to wait one more day, one more hour, one more moment and I am so glad I did. Look at everything I would have missed!

Never ever give up on yourself. You are on this planet for a reason, and that reason might not be known to you in your moment of darkness, but know that there is one. When we are in darkness, we obviously can see no light, but it is always there, waiting for us to reach out and let it touch our heart and hope.

Have an awesome day and stay true to yourself. ❤

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A Man’s Journey Into Darkness – Patrick Lynch

I love this new era of writing… we get to meet so many different writers and authors from all over the world in so many different ways. There are poets, novelists, essayists, etc. that brim with talent and potential.

I met a gentleman in one of my Facebook writer groups and he asked me to take a look at his short story, A Man’s Journey Into Darkness. It’s a good story with potential to be a great story.

A Man’s Journey Into Darkness – Patrick Lynch

This is a quick read published on the WordPress blog, Cold Coffee Stand. Patrick is originally from Ireland and moved around Europe a bit before finding himself back in his home island. He wrote one liners, limericks and jokes, short birthday wish ( verses) before dabbling in story writing.

You can find Patrick Lynch on Facebook here.

I’ll be back in a few days friends! Keep shining that love on our planet.

Blessed Be.

My First Author Event

The Growing Power Of Social MediaYes! I can’t believe it but it is true.

I signed up for my first ever Author Event in my community. I cried tears of joy after I read the official email. It’s called Quakertown Alive! and it takes place in the middle of town. There is an Author’s Corner, food vendors, craft vendors, activities, etc. I am super excited.

On top of that, I started my last semester at community college. After this, I will have my Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts!

As I continue to write Poetry through Recovery, I realize so many of these wonderful things in my life wouldn’t be possible without my sobriety. Painful to write but oh so necessary. Part of the way we get to keep our recovery and sobriety is to give it away.

When I first got sober my life was a multi-car trainwreck and I never thought I’d ever get my shit together. I am just living proof that even the biggest fuckups can put together a semblance of a life and live true to their soul.

If you’re in the area, please stop by and see me! I will be selling and signing books… plus giving away some fun gifts.

Poetry Through Recovery

PTR Cover

Well, it’s almost finished… this is the most difficult book I have ever written and I guess that means something. Scheduled for release on Wednesday, October 31, 2018. Halloween, I know… an important festive day in my life.

I had to burrow into my soul to write this as I thought long about how to approach this book. Did I want it to be some woe-is-me chronological account of my life while I was using and getting sober? Or did I want to approach it in a more emotional way so that while I wrote it, I could actually feel what I felt before and during my recovery?

I opted for the latter because I know there are people out there that still struggle with addiction and recovery. A lot of us think and thought that it was supposed to be some cakewalk. Newly clean and sober people see ‘oldheads’ living their lives in some bodacious harmony and sometimes it’s discouraging because that type of living seems a million moons away. But, it isn’t that far away for any of us.

So that is what I touch on in my memoir as a poetic and essay-ic journey through my last year of using into my first year and beyond in recovery. It’s not pretty sometimes and it’s not supposed to be.

…it’s never too late for a second chance…

New Ideas

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I am still bummed they stopped doing the daily post and that has dulled my motivation to blog. Edits for the novel are almost complete, along with some new entries for Poetry Through Recovery which still does not have an official release date.

Despite the delays, I came up with another great idea for myself since I have so much to offer the world.

I am starting a YouTube Channel. Yes! How exciting, right? It’s going to be a trial and error thing at first because I have some issues with talking (it’s why I am a writer) but I want to do this because I feel a deep calling in me. (I guess it helps that I am taking a public speaking class in the fall!)

My YouTube Channel is going to be about getting through the bullshit of feelings, to put it bluntly, so people can live their best life. There will be an edge about living sober because one of the biggest reasons why people abuse drugs is because they don’t know how to deal. In light of this sick, sad opiate epidemic, I feel like it is something I need to do since opiates almost killed me and I am here to tell the tale of survival. I am attending a viewing tonight of a young woman who died last week as a result of opiate abuse. 😦

There has to be a way to stop all of this insanity, and I believe the first major step is self-awareness.

The username is irrelevant to the cause right now (it is Ninja500Chic – I used to ride a motorcycle!), but that link name will be changing to something more appropriate to what I want to do… which is help people with the truth about living sober. And not just sober, really. Living life free from the bullshit of regret and the past.

I am still figuring all of this out. Meditation has been a cornerstone in my life recently and let me tell you, it helps. A lot. It really makes sense to me now how life situations come in piles instead of droplets.

I am so excited about this! ❤ Stay tuned my friends… this is going to be beautiful.

Please, go to YouTube and follow my channel for upcoming videos about how to live your best life whether you are sober, want to be sober or are struggling to stay sober. Maybe you have a family member who struggles with addiction… this channel will help you to see inside the mind of an addict from both sides.

Right now, the channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfmkKfG9HbB0SmKKg-rgg0w

The username is:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Ninja500Chic

Image: matthewmister.com

Present the Present

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Here I am

Scarred, bruised; a little broken

But my present is the present

Gone are the moments of moments ago

Lost is the pain that gripped me so snug

Right now is a gift that keeps giving

I can’t go back – cannot go forward

Always in the present moment.

https://fivedotoh.com/2018/07/17/fowc-with-fandango-present/

Image: pixabay

Zen and the Art of Being

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©2018 DAMGarrity

I took this picture yesterday at the Lehigh River. This first stack of Zen Rocks I ever made was a therapeutic moment in my life. It took only minutes, but I learned a lot.

One, even though there was activity all around me (people conversing, kids playing in the river, my husband talking nearby as he did his own thing) I remained intently focused on my task at hand. Once I finished my zen rocks and sat quietly for a few minutes, I readjusted to the reality around me, pulled out my cellphone and snapped this picture.

There were other zen rocks around me that I appreciated and nodded at as I walked the brief shoreline of the river. There were so many people sitting in chairs in the river, splashing about and sitting on towels in the dirt eating lunch. The energy was incredible and I inhaled all that energy in the oxygen around me, paused, then exhaled every tense fiber of my being. It was in that moment, I finally learned what it meant to JUST BE.

My husband and I did other things that day, too. We walked on the Appalachian Trail briefly yesterday and realized a few things: one, the trail is no joke (we would watch a documentary later that night about the AT and find out we did alright considering the Pennsylvania terrain). Number two, if you really want to do something, you just have to freaking do it.

What am I sitting around waiting for? All these wasted days of worry and fretting over shit that either hasn’t happened yet or has happened and I can’t change does me no good. After we got home yesterday, we took quick little power naps, made coffee, had some burgers and dogs, watched fireworks and then put on a documentary about the AT and were so inspired by these people who left their daily lives to just go BE. These people who I am sure had jobs, ideas – life in some town somewhere in the world – gave most of it or even all of it up to go live on the AT and hike (mostly by foot) from Georgia to Maine or Maine to Georgia.

This morning, I awoke to the sun beaming through my bedroom window and as I did my normal morning routine, felt more peaceful than I ever did before. I did my morning meditation with more conviction, I journaled, I got my coffee, watched the weather, then left for work after I kissed my husband ‘see you later.’

I just feel different today; I feel more hopeful. I have direction and plan on using it to steer me exactly where I want to be.

Blessed be.