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FEBRUARY 13

COMMITMENT

EMOTIONAL BALANCE

“Help me appreciate the rewards in my life that flow from my commitments.”

Of Character: Building Assets in Recovery

There are days when my physical pain is small compared to the emotional pain I experience when I contemplate that I might feel physical pain for the rest of my life. Some days it seems the tears will not stop, but only because I am caught in the trap of believing that what I’m experiencing now is what I’ll experience forever… and forever seems like an unbearably long time.

Thinking this way keeps me mired in self-pity, which is simply another manifestation of the selfishness I’ve learned is the root of my problem. But how to get out of this self-pitying trap when my physical and emotional pain seem to stretch in every direction I can see? There is one way that never fails: helping or working with others. I make a commitment to helping another person or group. I agree to be a greeter at my home group or to read recovery literature with a newcomer, and I keep my commitment. Soon my “pity party” is over and I don’t even realize how it happened. Commitment is the key to service.

Sometimes it’s hard to think about a future without pain; thinking about the future at all seems to bring thoughts that are hard to shake. The solution I’ve found is to focus on helping another person today, and I remain committed to my program of recovery.