Happy Recovery

You may or may not be ready to change. Wherever you are, is ok. Being willing to explore different and sometimes challenging principles allows you a choice. A person’s normal may be painful, but once acknowledged, change can happen. Beware that change, even healthy change, requires some cost. Weight the cost-benefit equation and decide for yourself. Your friends all need the principles taught here. This Blog is not about them. Is it?

Am I scaring you away? Are these frightening realizations? Do not worry; you have enough courage to make any life change you wish. You can achieve any goal you set your mind to accomplish. If there was real doubt, you would not have started reading this Blog or decided to continue.

When I was in the Marine Corps, they told us “If you are ever ambushed, face the heaviest volume of fire and charge that position.” Thank goodness I was never ambushed to test that principle. However, I used this principle when I embarked on my change process. Whatever was the scariest to address represented the heaviest volume of fire and I knew if I wanted peace and serenity, I had to charge that position. I did. Once on the other side, this seemingly impossible task melted away with discoveries and insights.

When my son was in Rehab for his drug addiction, I attended family treatment. The counselor gave me a book called the 12×12. This thin book explained the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. As instructed, I went home and read the book from front to back.

When I finished it, I was so mad I threw it across the room. I remember that small book sailing across the room, pages opening like wings as it hit the fireplace. I remember saying aloud, “That is a bunch of &%$(&, nothing that simple could ever work!” You may be like me and metaphorically hurl this Blog across the room. Or maybe you have a collection of self-help on your shelf gathering dust. Whatever your hesitation, is today the day? The principles in this blog are simple, perhaps too simple for complicated people, but work they do.

When experiencing life, certain lessons are necessary to achieve the worthwhile and peaceful life we all desire. It is up to you when or if you choose to know them. Some people stick their little toes into the change process to feel the waters. Some mental health clients make a few sessions and discover a few insights but choose not to return.

A young woman attended her first meeting of ACOA (Adult Child of Alcoholics) and loved it. “This is my meeting,” she proudly exclaimed. I was so happy for her, but She never returned. I often think of how her life would have been different if she had chosen to learn those lessons instead of the terrible price her continued chaos cost.

Until you start to choose…you do not have a choice!