The Language of Letting Go, July 26
 

JULY 26

You are reading from the book "The Language of Letting Go."

Owning Our Power

Don't you see? We do not have to be so victimized by life, by people, by situations, by work, by our friends, by our love relationships, by our family, by our feelings, our thoughts, our circumstances, and ourselves.

We are not victims. We do not have to be victims. That is the whole point!

Yes, admitting and accepting powerlessness is important. But that is the first step, an introduction to this business of recovery. Later comes owning our power, changing what we can. This is as important as admitting and accepting powerlessness. And there is so much we can change.

We can own our power, wherever we are, wherever we go, whomever we are with. We do not have to stand there with our hands tied, groveling helplessly, submitting to whatever comes along. There are things we can do. We can speak up. Solve the problem. Use the problem to motivate ourselves to do something good for ourselves.

We can make ourselves feel good. We can walk away. We can come back on our terms. We can stand up for ourselves. We can refuse to let others control and manipulate us.

We can do what we need to do to take care of our selves. That is the beauty, the reward, the crown of victory we are given in this process called recovery. It is what it is all about!

If we can't do anything about the circumstance, we can change our attitude. We can do the work within and courageously face our issues so we are not victimized. We have been given a miraculous key to life.

We are victims no more unless we want to be.

Freedom and joy are ours for the taking, for the feeling, for the hard work we have done.

Today, I will remind myself as often as necessary that I am not a victim, and I do not need to be victimized by whatever comes my way. I will work hard to remove myself as a victim, whether that means setting and enforcing a boundary, walking away, dealing with my feelings, or giving myself what I need. Higher Power, help me let go of my need to feel victimized.

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Excellent post honeypig , Really enjoy how you word things :)

Nest, I wish I could take credit for the wisdom in these posts, but I can't. They are from a book called "The Language of Letting Go" by Melody Beattie, the same woman who wrote "Codependent No More" (and a slew of other books on similar topics).

I bought the book b/c it was recommended by a member here and found it so helpful I wanted to share the daily readings w/my SR friends. I'm glad you're finding it useful also!

I love that book and the readings too, Honeypig, thank you for posting them.

They are so helpful to me too. Thankyou Honeypig x

Yes I have to add my two cents worth and let you know honeypig how useful these posts are in so many areas of my life! Came here at first for dealing with my RAD, but today just came home from spending time with a very self absorbed "friend". After her taking a phone call, numerous texts back & forth fighting with her daughter, finally had enough & told her I had to leave. She looked surprised, realized after reading this excerpt that I'm starting to tap into my own power, I don't have to take rude behavior from anyone anymore!
There are things I can do, and today I decided to walk away. Feels very empowering!