I still spend a lot of time with those suffering addictions. My original training for my masters was that of counseling. I didn’t do it for long as a job. It’s a hard career, because you constantly deal with people who are to one degree or another suffering and having difficulty in succeeding at something in life. If you aren’t careful, you can get vicariously frustrated, burnt out, and depressed as a counselor. One of the things I have noticed, though, in my time spending time with addicts is that success depends exclusively on them. There is nothing you can do to change or fix someone. You can listen, give feedback on what you are hearing, and sometimes make assessments and challenge them to help them see something more clearly. You have no magic healing power.
I see people in support groups I joined who come for a while and then go back to their addiction of choice. I see others who come and succeed wonderfully. What is the difference, I asked myself? Eventually, I clearly saw it was all about desire and consequence. In other words, no one gets better until they genuinely want to change. Once the consequences become painful enough, the addiction loses its ability to give pleasure. No one succeeds until they see success as more fun than failure. So why am I mentioning this? It’s because it makes me think about other things in life. There is nothing that you can accomplish until you actually decide that that is the path you must follow. If you want to be drug or alcohol free, you must make that decision. Only you can do it. If you want to write a book, you have to really decide that, too. No one else can do it for you. Then you can look for people and tools that will help you.
1 Comment
Yvonne Skogen
7/22/2017 10:25:41 am
For those seeking answers, and we all do at one time or another, worshiping the Lord is a good antidote. Putting God first instead of our problems. Otherwise, how can we overcome what can't be changed. I am preaching to myself as well.
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Greg
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