~ VICTIMIZATION ~
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Within each of us lies the power of our
consent to health and to sickness, to
riches and to poverty, to freedom and to
slavery. It is we who control these,
and not another.
Richard Bach
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I have lived most of my life believing
that I was a victim of circumstance. As
a 'victim' I believed I had no power, no
options, no choices, no hope, and no
control in my life. It's so tempting to
be a victim. If I'm a victim, I am not
responsible for anything. Every pain,
every dysfunction, every addiction,
every problem was not my "fault" and
there was nothing I could do to improve
my life. Or so I thought.
One day a friend asked me if I actually
wanted to be well, and I was shocked to
find that the immediate answer flooding
from my heart was, "NO." Wow! You would
think that a 'victim' would give
anything in order to be well, yet I
found that I was terrified of the
responsibility of being well. If I were
well, I would be in charge of my own
choices -particularly the most primal
choices of all: Life or Death, holding
onto powerlessness, or reaching out to
grasp Hope and Health.
I am still tempted to return to the
false security of victim-hood. Yet I
come to recovery, and keep coming
back. I work the program, I learn, I
fail, I fall. I rise again and begin
again.
ONE DAY AT A TIME . . .
I will remember that I have the power, the freedom, and the responsibility to make choices which move me towards health. I will resist the siren call of Victimization.