This is a letter about hope.
Last week I spoke about the first step in recovery. When I first came across the steps, I used them to keep me sober from alcohol. I had to admit and accept that I am powerless over alcohol. The first step reads like this: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Or as Russell Brand puts it: Are you a bit fucked?
Now I use the steps as a mode for living. A program to help me ‘human’. Sometimes, if I forget them for a bit, I catch myself wondering why I feel lonely, sad, resentful, lost. And then I remember that it is because I have forgotten to draw on this beautiful program that I have been taught by others who went before me.
So to recap on last week, the first step is getting really honest with yourself. Has your life become unmanageable? We cannot face things and deal with them if we are not being honest. Is there something you're kidding yourself about at the moment? Are you drinking / eating / working / doing anything else too much? Are you in denial? Do you keep doing a thing and expecting a different outcome and never actually getting one?
That, my friend, is an addictive cycle.
The quote, ‘the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result’ is a quote often attributed to Einstein. But it isn't Einstein, it originates from the AA fellowship.
The second step reads: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
This is where some people can get stuck. They ask if they have to believe in God. And the answer is no, you don't. What this really is about, is about faith and hope. And that does not have to be a religious faith or hope.
You have to have faith that you can heal.
The hope to start to believe that you can recover.
That there is a way.
You have to have faith that the power greater than yourself might be your higher power, the universe, or indeed God. Whatever works for you, whatever makes sense to you.
Recovery isn't just about quitting the thing that is keeping you stuck. It is about recovering the person underneath the addictive patterns so that you live your highest potential. Uncovering the very best version of you. Recovering the person you were meant to be all along before the self-sabotaging behaviour took hold.
We have to have hope.
If you're feeling, even a tiny bit, hopeless, a little bit lost, and you're going around in the same circles, then you know where I am - just click reply to this letter, I am here for you.
I promise you there is hope. And if I have to hold that vision and that hope for you, until you can see it for yourself, then that is exactly what I will do.
Get in touch today, you're only one decision from a whole new life.
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