I am early in my recovery Pt. 2. LOL
I don't know if this qualifies...but I really have an appreciation for those individuals "further along the path" in their recovery who share with kindness, compassion and hope. This is different than my first recovery go-round...because back then...I mostly admired those "tough-love/pull yourself together and get over it" types...which helped me at the time...no doubt.
I eliminated the influence of alcoholic/addicts/toxic/dysfunctional people from my life. That was a good start. But doing that doesn't make me a saint...or a guru...I am still left with my character defects. That accomplishment doesn't mean that my work is over. I still have me to deal with and I am learning to do that with kindness, compassion and hope....thanks to some lovely people here at SR who are working with me on that. To say to myself, "Well, those emotionally unavailable people are gone I guess my work is done here." isn't honest because I treat people in an emotionally unavailable manner, sometimes.
Today, in my recovery, I am taking things slow and actually getting more out of my recovery readings than I did years ago. I am actually thinking about the principles...meditating on them and what they mean...what they are actually saying. Instead of like the past..when I was like, "Yes...Yes...thats nice...kinda idealistic but..." and then going on and handling things "the way I see fit" and forgeting the point completely.
Today...I realize...that 12 step recovery has elements of self-discipline (to put it mildly) and I rejected whole aspects of this, years ago.
So thats where I am at today...starting over and trying to do better. Trying to listen and let "the truth" of my recovery sink in...instead of rebelling. I am tired of rebelling against my recovery. I find I just get worn out...and my "truth" is still just waiting for me in the morning.
Thanks for the opportunity to share! Great thread.