"Change is a bitch. Not changing is even worse."
Change sucks. Hell, we're practically begging God to help us accept it at the beginning of every meeting when we say the Serenity Prayer. And it seems like we have all kinds of character defects standing by to help us resist it.
A relationship ends? Fear shows up. Am I going to be alone forever? Am I damaged goods? Then anger shows up. Resentment shows up. Prideful pouting shows up. We start replaying all the ways things should have gone if the other person hadn't changed into this or that. It sucks.
The further we go along in recovery, the more it seems like impatience is hiding underneath a lot of our character defects. And alcoholics know impatience better than most. We want answers now. Relief now. Results now.
But recovery keeps asking us to do something different. Wait on God's plan to unfold. Pay attention to the people He puts in our path. Try to do the next right thing. Trust that the door will open when it's supposed to.
That's where a lot of us start to struggle, wiggle, and squirm. The alcoholism flares up, and before long we're reacting to life instead of responding to it.
It doesn't have to be that way. Life on life's terms goes a lot smoother with a little self-awareness, prayer, and meditation. The grass stays greener. The sky stays bluer. The smiles seem to come easier.
We stop trying to discipline the world and let God discipline us.
It works. It really does.
Where does impatience show up most often in your life today?
