"Action"

When I was active in my addiction, passivity was the norm. I could go on and on about how unfair life was, rage for hours or even days and weeks about some wrong that had been committed against me. Rarely did I ever do anything about any of it. I thought that there was no point in taking action. There had been so many times when I’d tried to do something where I was unsuccessful, I’d reached a point where there seemed to be no point in trying. Wallowing in inaction, of course, only served to make me feel worse about myself, which in turn lead to more inaction.

Nowadays, I’ve discovered that taking action has the opposite effect. When I do take action, I feel better about myself. I have a lot of uncertainty in my life right now concerning my job. The other day I cold-called a company that a coworker had told me about and gave them my resume. I don’t even know if they’re hiring, or that I would want to work there if they are. It doesn’t matter. It was the act of doing something made me feel better. I struggle, too, with not having a girlfriend in my life, but instead of sitting at home and moping about it, I take action. I go to places I like to go to, do the things I enjoy doing, and talk to the people who are there. Maybe nothing comes of it, but I’m far more likely to meet someone I have something in common with if I’m out doing the things I enjoy than if I simply stay home and feel sorry for myself.

A lot of us come into Recovery being people of inaction. The only action we knew how to take was to pick up--and we could go to such great lengths to make that happen! How many times was that action insanely unmanageable? I remember a share at a meeting once of someone drilling through ceiling tiles to break in past a locked door. I myself have driven obscene numbers of miles to an out-of-town connection because my regular connections couldn’t be reached. These two examples are, of course, mild in comparison to some others. We knew how to take action to feed our disease, but in other areas of our lives, we were paralyzed.

The Steps teach us better ways of taking action. Action is a skill that is learned and cultivated, not some innate ability we are born with. Certain steps are specifically referred to as ‘Action Steps’. It is my belief that each and every one of the twelve steps are action steps. When we work any step, we are taking action in treating our disease; we are taking action in our Recovery, defying the odds, and allowing ourselves to care about us and the people around us. We can become better people through working the steps, and that in turn has a positive effect on the people around us. Positivity spreads every bit as much as negativity does.

Even going to a meeting is taking action. Any time we treat our disease instead of feeding it, we are taking action to keep ourselves healthy and be the better part of ourselves. When we act from our best selves, we feel better.