The Serenity Prayer is very powerful for me. I say this prayer everyday.....multiple times a day and each time I say it, it means something a little different but it helps me through.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference
Some days I need serenity because I am feeling anxious. It calms me.
Some days I need courage because it takes a lot of courage to love an addict and it takes a lot of courage to try to change lifelong behaviors in myself. It gives me strength.
And some days I feel that I can't tell the difference--I feel confused and I need my HP to chime in and guide me. It clears my mind and heart and allows me to be open to resolutions to problems that I couldn't have thought of otherwise.
The "other" version of the Serenity Prayer helped me to understand it better.
God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change
The courage to change the people I can
And the wisdom to know it's me.
We can't control our inlaws. We can't control our addicts. We can't control any other person. But we can take control of our circumstances and how we view things. When I stopped trying to fix the addict and started to fix me (because I was very broken), my life got immeasurably better.
Stick around. Take what you need and leave the rest.
gentle hugs
ke