I want to know what sustains you when you’re overwhelmed? I hope you have lots of answers to that question and I hope that list includes some pretty stellar people. I am grateful for the folks my HP puts in my life. When I look at my support system, my ego would like to believe that I’m so clever that I went out and found these folks – but it’s just not true.
Taoism and Recovery
One of the many joys of having an addictive personality is chronically doing too much. It’s way too easy for me – everything in my life is really great stuff. All of my problems are good problems. On mornings like this one, my head is spinning in an effort to gauge what it is I should be doing right now.
When You’re Down and Don’t Know Why
A big part of recovery is noticing habits that don’t serve us and replacing them. Sometimes it’s as simple as identifying an emotional reflex. Example: Sometimes I catch myself feeling down and my brain immediately sets out to investigate why that is.
The Fear of Getting Better
Like most aspects of recovery, getting better is counterintuitive in that it’s generally terrifying. When we’re not sure how to be, we entertain the option of shooting ourselves in the foot, just to get back to the familiar.
Recovery on the Hard Days
I’m grateful for the ways in which my Higher Power reminds me – usually through the good people in my life that in the grand scheme of things… my annoyances today are over very trivial matters.
Growing spiritually
I’ve come to understand that control is fear-based and more importantly, largely an illusion. On my good days, the only thing I’m in charge of is myself. On my great days, I’m not in control of me – my Higher Power is. I surrender on a daily basis – asking my Higher Power to work through me to give and receive.
Let it go
We treat letting go and acceptance as though they are once and for all decisions made from what our minds know to be best. In truth, both are emotional processes that are ongoing adjustments.
The cost of carrying resentments
Resentments – an insight into the toxic nature of what we carry and the harm it does to us.
Expectations of self lead to resentment
I’ve learned that the expectations and standards we hold ourselves to serve as guiding principles in our lives. Like many in recovery, I found myself repeatedly crumbling under the weight of the demands I placed on myself, the pressure I put on myself to juggle an impossible number of undertakings, and the absence of support that I allowed myself.
Overcoming the fear of judgement
When we talk about our “trust issues” we’re often referring to our fears of judgment and rejection. Our experiences both in growing up and in active use taught us to expect it. It’s a hard piece to reconcile. The people in our lives today are very different than those who gave us a distorted sense of self.