At one time I worked with a man who had been a big league pitcher. For the few years he was in the game, he had accumulated a very impressive record. With two World Series rings to his credit, the future looked bright, until one night his arm gave out in the middle of an inning. This was before the days of “Tommy John” surgery, and while he made a few more starts, his career was over. During his time in baseball, he had acquired a heavy drinking habit. When I knew him he was deeply into a process which he will need to continue for the rest of his life: recovery. He talked freely about his illness. At one point I asked him how he had started his drinking career. His story is that starting professional baseball players are often kids not long out of high school. They are away from home for weeks and months at a time, have lots of money in their pockets, and lots of time on their hands. On the road they stay in hotels which have bars; sensing money, young women are easily available....
My alarm clock goes off every morning at eight, except for the few times when I have a breakfast date. Usually I wake up about an hour before that, or at least I partly wake up. It is important that I remain in a “not quite awake but not quite asleep” state, because I consider that time as the germination period for whatever seeds happen to have blown into my head.