the big terrible thing

I read Matthew Perry's memoir a couple weeks ago. It's about his addiction to alcohol and opiates. He went to rehab 10+ times. His withdrawal symptoms were worst on days 3 and 4. 

Even after 14 surgeries from drug effects, he still broke his sobriety and sneaked opiates when cravings hit.

After reading the book, I realized I probably have a sugar addiction. If I don't eat sugar for a day, I experience intense cravings. For an hour, it is hard to focus on anything except eating a dessert. I thought it was emotional eating and a stress response and lack of willpower, but now I realize it is probably a physical addiction.

When cravings hit in the past, I thought they'd go on and on forever if I didn't give in. I always caved. Had I known they were temporary withdrawal symptoms that would gradually subside over a few weeks, perhaps I could've powered through!

From now until the end of the year, I decided to stop eating added sugar. 

I was skeptical when Matthew Perry said his memoir is meant to help people with addiction. I thought perhaps he wanted to recapture some fame. I shouldn't have doubted!

three new bucket-list items

I have three new goals on my bucket list.

1. Walk the Camino de Santiago, Portuguese Central route.

2. Do the most popular Camino, the Frances route. Perhaps I'll bike the Meseta plains in the middle.

3. All of that will be build-up for someday walking the Camino del Norte. It's often called the most gorgeous of the Camino routes, but people also say it may be the most strenuous. Nearly constant uphill and downhill. The route sometimes consists of scrambling over rocks. One person said that out of 30 days hiking, it rained 26 of the days.

But look at this view!

I've always been below average at cardio, and the Camino del Norte will be a stretch. However, the first time I read about it, I knew I wanted to do it someday. Mark my words!