Real Change Requires Real Change

[bluidkiti]

Real Change Requires Real Change - At one meeting, a young woman who was ten days abstinent stated that she dreaded the thought of relapse. Her last ten days had been 'super.' However, she was under constant pressure to drink because there is drinking at her job, her friends drink, and there is drinking at all social functions. She did not want to give any of these up. This young woman did not have her priorities in order. We who say that you must change 'people, places, and things' are not being sadistic. We are simply conveying the accumulated experience that, if you do not eliminate the factors that are conducive to drinking, your risk of relapse is great. We make sacrifices when we realize that life is at stake. If you are reluctant to make changes to avoid a relapse, it is only because you have not realized how lethal addiction is. We must learn to put first things first.
--Dr Twerski's Sober Thought For The Day

[MajestyJo]

My sponsor said that I had to make a 180 deg turn, and do the complete opposite of what I did before. If I wanted to be clean and sober, I had to be willing to go to any length and that meant, changing people, places, and things. That included my family and friends, foods and those old place where I use to frolic and have fun at.

As the saying goes, nothing changes if nothing changes.

[willymccabe]

So very true. For me the greatest challenge is rigorous honesty in my relationships. It's difficult for me. In my addiction all I ever thought about was saving my own butt from pain. Any kind of pain. Even the stuff that I knew was going to be good for me in the long run. But I would jettison honesty whenever it was in my own selfish interest. Now I'm learning that real honesty is crucial for quality recovery. And it hurts. It's uncomfortable. And sometimes it's pretty lonely as well. But I know I'm doing the right thing by God. And I guess that's the only thing that matters.