Saturday, October 3, 2015

Proving Ourselves vs. Self Esteem

Dear Reader(s),
I receive a daily email containing various recovery readings, and the following was included in today's email. It really touched me, so I am reposting it here. If you would like to receive daily recovery readings in your email, send an email to lambchopp@gmail.com requesting to be put on the list.

"Long after a bitter failure, some of us still cling to the hope that we can erase the defeat in some spectacular way. One dream is to “prove ourselves” to those who scorned us or put us down. This never really works, even when we do become winners at some later time. For one thing, we may be proving ourselves to people who never will like us. If we are striving to show others that we can succeed, we are still dancing to their tune. We are accepting their idea of what success should be. [emphasis added]
Many of us failed simply because we were alcoholics and could do no better. We might have destroyed opportunities that will never rise again. But by finding sobriety, we may already have proved ourselves to those who really count in our lives...... Including ourselves."

Source: Walk in Dry Places, Hazelden Publishing, 1996.
Namasté,
Ken    

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