Originally Posted by Boleo

I am not saying "We must suffer to get well" (although it is one of the 4 paradox's mentioned in "The Professor and the Paradox" story from the Big Book 2nd Edition). When I used the word "TOO" in too much", I was using it as defined in a dictionary;

to a higher degree than is desirable, permissible, or possible; excessively.

We often talk about balance or maintaining a "right sized ego" in recovery. I have to admit that when I first saw people brag about how well they were doing in recovery, I applauded them. However, after seeing several of them relapse shortly after their "Mission Accomplished" proclamations, I started thinking to myself "Oh No - there goes the neighborhood". Many old-timers warned me of the same thing... "To much speed makes the train bounce off the track".

I know a lot of you here think that I am jumping to conclusions. I myself would have taken your side before I saw it happen with my own eyes several times in row. However, pattern recognition is something I was trained to look for in both my science classes and my Quality Control jobs. It takes long-term experience to recognize patterns that only occur once or twice a year.

I have thought long and hard about leaving ALL recovery fellowships due to too much negative feedback from short-sighted people and nay-sayers who think my caveats are superfluous. The #1 thing that keeps me connected with recovery groups is to gain more ability to recognize and avoid traps that I do not YET know about. Somethings can simply never be discerned without many years of honest fellowship sharing and hundreds of iterations of pattern recognition.