๐ on being true ๐
Posted: Sun, Aug 31, 2025 12:13:35 PM
and faithful to the message of recovery, that has sustained me over the minute i have been clean. quite honestly, i almost skipped using this as the seed for my day today. for me, this is just one of those topics that need not be discussed by me, as i already believe wholeheartedly that an addict, ANY ADDICT, can stop using, lose the desire to use and find a new way to live. the problem with that sort of thinking, is that i get complacent and lazy when i do not actually look at a topic that i think i have done pat.
once upon a time, not all that long ago, i was a firm believer in the printed word, exactly as it was written, with no allowance for my own experience, strength or hope. anyone who strayed form the “pure” had to be some sort of heretic and burned at the figurative stake. living a program of recovery based on dogma, rather than allowing myself to think for myself, did not win me a whole lot friends and did little to influence those around me. what that behavior did do, however, was alienate me from this ever-changing and evolving fellowship by forcing me to see everything as a binary choice: either you were with me, or you were against me. w3hat i missed out on, was the dynamism of an evolving fellowship.
today, i may hold very strong opinions about what the “correct” way is to carry the message, but that opinion, only applies to myself. those “other people” who may not see things as i do, are no less correct in how they carry the message. i can move on and allow myself to evaluate whether or not their path is working. i do not need to be stuck in the past, because my opinions became a rigid belief structure that is threatened by the change i see around me. just because someone is a bit kinder and softer on how they carry the message, does not mean their passion for the fellowship is any less than mine. i use precision in my speech, especially when i share, using the vocabulary of the fellowship that continues to give me this new life. other may choose not to do so, out of ignorance, laziness or it just is not who they are. their message and how they carry it, is no less valid than mine, although … 😉
once upon a time, not all that long ago, i was a firm believer in the printed word, exactly as it was written, with no allowance for my own experience, strength or hope. anyone who strayed form the “pure” had to be some sort of heretic and burned at the figurative stake. living a program of recovery based on dogma, rather than allowing myself to think for myself, did not win me a whole lot friends and did little to influence those around me. what that behavior did do, however, was alienate me from this ever-changing and evolving fellowship by forcing me to see everything as a binary choice: either you were with me, or you were against me. w3hat i missed out on, was the dynamism of an evolving fellowship.
today, i may hold very strong opinions about what the “correct” way is to carry the message, but that opinion, only applies to myself. those “other people” who may not see things as i do, are no less correct in how they carry the message. i can move on and allow myself to evaluate whether or not their path is working. i do not need to be stuck in the past, because my opinions became a rigid belief structure that is threatened by the change i see around me. just because someone is a bit kinder and softer on how they carry the message, does not mean their passion for the fellowship is any less than mine. i use precision in my speech, especially when i share, using the vocabulary of the fellowship that continues to give me this new life. other may choose not to do so, out of ignorance, laziness or it just is not who they are. their message and how they carry it, is no less valid than mine, although … 😉
∞ DT ∞