"Self-righteous anger can be very enjoyable. In fact, it can give us a feeling of sinful satisfaction." — Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step Ten
You can spend a lot of money and come away with a diagnosis that sounds like Persistent Authority-Related Oppositional Defiance with Maladaptive Resistance to Corrective Feedback Syndrome.
Good Lord!
Around here, we usually call it something a whole lot cheaper.
Pride.
Pride doesn't listen because it already knows. Pride shuts out valuable suggestions as criticism. It debates others'wisdom as a personal attack. It makes us argue with our sponsor, the meeting, our spouse, our Higher Power, and eventually reality itself.
The illness of alcoholism loves pride because pride shuts every door. Pretty soon it's just us and the bottle. And for an alcoholic, the bottle always seems to agree with everything we think.
Recovery starts when we stop trying to win every argument and become willing to hear something we don't already know. Humility isn't thinking less of yourself. It's finally admitting that maybe—just maybe—we don't have all the answers.
Am I making this whole thing more complicated than it needs to be?
