Ann

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Getting Through the Discomfort

Surrender to the pain. Then learn to surrender to the good. It's there and more is on the way.
--Beyond Codependency

Our goal in recovery is to make us feel comfortable, peaceful, and content. Happy. We want to be at peace with our environment and ourselves. Sometimes, to do that, we need to be willing to face, feel, and get through discomfort.

I am not talking here about being addicted to misery and pain. I am not talking about creating unnecessary pain. I'm talking about the legitimate discomfort we sometimes need to feel as we heal.

When we have surgery, the pain hurts most the day after the operation. When we do the kind of work we are facing in recovery, we are doing an emotional, mental, and spiritual surgery on ourselves. We're removing parts of us that are infected and inflamed.

Sometimes the process hurts. We are strong enough to survive discomfort and temporary feelings of emotional pain. Once we are willing to face and feel our discomfort and pain, we are almost to the point of release.

Today, I am willing to face my discomfort, trusting that healing and release are on the other side. Help me, God; be open to feeling whatever I need to feel to be healed and healthy. While I am doing this, I will trust I am cared for and protected by my friends, my Higher Power, the Universe, and myself.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.

Ann

There was a time in my recovery where I had reached a point where I knew I had to face the pain, the pain of my past and the reality of addiction and what it could do to my son.

I knew that I needed to keep myself well attached to my program and the support of those who went before me. Although I had grown in early recovery, this was a "reckoning" time and I knew it would really hurt.

Morning Glory helped me more than anyone or anything else, when she told me that the only way to get through the pain was to face it head on, acknowledge it and examine it, and then walk through it. She assured me that when I got to the other side, that pain would never be the same again and would no longer be an obstacle in my recovery.

How right she was and how wise.

For me and for many, it was critical that I had built a foundation of strength before I did this. Working the steps had helped me do that and I now understood why the steps were in the order that they were in. Each step was a block in that foundation and until that block was firmly in place, another block could not be placed upon it.

Going to meetings, taking as long as it took to "get" each step, and then using what I had learned as a tool to help me with the next step, made a significant difference in how strong I was along the way.

And learning to pray often as I faced the pain, helped give me the courage to continue.

For all those facing pain today, please know that you CAN make it through it, that it is one of those strangely wrapped gifts that will take you to a better place on this journey of recovery.

Hugs

HKAngel24

Ann-

Thank you so much for this passage and for your sharing.

When the anxiety rises in me that I am unfit for reality and that I will never be able to be happy or at peace- I use the thought of the program. Lately I have felt a tremendous amount of pain- of being alone- the acceptance that I have rejected myself for much of my life and for taking responsibility for much of my unhappiness up until this point. It is painful to challenge the deep beliefs about my inadequacy. It's as if I am learning there is no Santa Clause and needing to adjust to the reality and change my beliefs. It physically feels wrong and I get frustrated by constantly needing to attack my negative thoughts and replace them.

Thank you for your Experience, Strength and Hope.

Lovestoomuch

Today I'm facing a new kind of pain. One that doesn't have anything to do with addiction. Too often I forget that these principles apply to everyday life. Thank you for this post Ann. As always, it's right on time.