Wisdom Of The Rooms - 2022

[bluidkiti]

August 22

Quote of the Week

"Pain is necessary; misery is optional."

For years, I used alcohol to try to avoid the pain in my life. Whether it was emotional pain caused by relationships, financial pain caused by poor job choices, physical pain, or spiritual or even mental anguish, drinking was my way out. The problem was when I came to the next day, my problems were still there, and now I also had misery as well. Not only did I fret and worry about my problems all over again, but I had new ones because of the actions I had taken while loaded.

When I came into the program, I thought the Steps might somehow teach me how to avoid pain in my life. I magically thought that because I was now being good and trying to get spiritual, that somehow my life would be free of pain. Delusional, I know, but we alcoholics are a grandiose lot. Besides dealing with all the pain I had and had caused, I also found that life was still in session. And a part of life includes pain. Somehow this revelation shocked me a bit.

What I also learned, however, is that there is a huge difference between pain and misery. While pain is inevitable, misery—caused by how much I dwell on the pain, what I choose to do about it, how I decide to handle it—is optional. The program and the Steps have given me many ways to release the misery I used to hold on to, and it gave me so much more. It taught me the true purpose of pain: that pain is the touchstone of growth, and that after pain there is recovery. Today, I recognize pain as an opportunity to grow, and that creating misery is optional.