I’m back with the Brothers Comatose and their song called “Too Many Places.” The music makes me feel happy despite the anxiety inducing lyrics. “There’s too many places I need to be. I can’t get there with all this weighing on me.” I have tomorrow off from work, giving me a three day weekend; my mind has places it needs to take me, and they are in different directions.

I am twelve days sober, and I feel really good about that journey. I am recognizing when temptation is the most troublesome, and preparing myself beforehand. I know there may be difficult days ahead, but right now I am able to get through the days with ease. I have work to give me a great distraction, and I am working half days, so some days I just treat myself to a nap. My stress level is much lower than during the school year.

I finished the book “A Woman’s Way Through the Twelve Steps,” and now my energy will go into researching “creation spirituality.” It may help me find a view of religion that feels comfortable to me. I have spent many years as an atheist and several more as an agnostic. I’ve been all over the place. Too many places. At this point, I don’t feel a lot of angst, I am just going to approach this journey with a sense of wonder.

I have been reading many books about bipolar, and I keep coming back to my three favorite authors, Julie Fast, Natasha Tracy, and Ellen Forney. Julie Fast now has a second edition of “Take Charge of Bipolar.” Natasha Tracy has wonderful podcasts about bipolar in the workplace, as well as her book “Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar.”

Ellen Forney’s creative approach to writing about bipolar in a comic style format is a fun read, entitled “Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me.” Her other book “Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from my Bipolar Life” is a helpful read for maintaining a self care ritual for someone with bipolar.

I’ve been sort of book hopping in different directions, absorbing as much as I can to maintain a healthy mental outlook. Most days I feel pretty upbeat. I have other days where I don’t feel blah, I just don’t feel much of anything. I’ll take it! Give me a ticket to that aeroplane, it keeps me safe and functioning!

This blog said it wanted to be about books it seems. Songs, books, religion, sobriety, maybe that’s not too many places after all. Just “easy does it*”, as my Grandfather’s bumper sticker said.

*A.A. co-founder Bill Wilson, wrote this: “We have three little mottoes… Here they are: First Things First. Live and Let Live. Easy Does It.”