As I sit here on the sofa, clean from a shower, reading Doing it Over, and being up since 4am, I’m noticing the little noises that get lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I have seen the sky turn from its darkest shades of blue towards light as the sun rises. With the light the little birds that live in the palm trees outside have started singing their songs. With the glass door open I’ve been hearing the crash of the waves on the beach a 1/4 mile away. But soon the rest of the world will wake up, and these noises will be drowned out.

I’m not really a “Lets go hang out on the beach” kind of person. My kind of sand is in an arena. But I like the sound of the ocean. It’s almost like it makes up for all lack of the sound of rain. I grew up in England, it’s a regular thing over there.

So today in class we talked about Emotional Relapse Prevention. How to catch and identify the problem signs and try to come up with solutions. Identify, intervene, Do something to change, and make a new pattern. So the stresses/trigger (which could be thoughts, events, stress, or feelings) lead to early warning signs. So with these early warning signs means that you can change your thoughts, which is a cognitive behavior. You can change your feelings and emotions, which help you be able to change your behavior in general.

There are also two steps. The action step and the connect and participate step. The action step is when you purposely do and have experiences that make you feel : In control, meaningful, smart (shop S-Mart!), and worthwhile. The connect and participate step involves being around people who you care about, using you support group and asking for help when it’s needed. You need to participate rather than avoid. I’m really good at doing the avoiding thing.

I also started coloring a new page. I just wasn’t feeling the dragon today. And I don’t know why the unipeg is black. But she is.  The wolf is just colored in using the different grays from Prismacolor. I also worked on a wolf yesterday while doing laundry and other Sunday adultish type things.

Like riding my horse.

I think it was good for both of us.

I’ve been debating about when to leave for Darkshore. Do I go down Thursday after class, and hang out with friends solo as I since my boyfriend has to work. Or so I wait until my boyfriend gets off work on Friday and go down then. But we might be setting up the tent in the dark, never fun.

Anyway, I’m hoping to work on the tail tonight. I got sucked in by the Sharks game last night, followed by game of thrones. So I’ve got some catching up to do if I want to make both tails before I go.

Oh, also:

Happy 1st Anniversary to Wade and Darci Agin