One Day at a Time in Al-Anon:
Perhaps many of us have had the thought, at one time and another, “Oh, if I could only run away from all this and start all over again.”
We think a fresh beginning would solve everything; that we wouldn’t make the same mistakes again, and so we’d have a chance to be happy.
Of course we know this is a childish fantasy. The very idea that we can entertain such a notion should make us a little doubtful of our maturity. For we know perfectly well — admit it or not — that we’d be taking our troubles with us. We can’t run away from ourselves.
Isn’t this clear proof that many of our troubles are self-created — many of our personal agonies self-inflicted?
Today’s Reminder:
A big step toward maturing is to realize that I cannot change conditions by running away from them. I can only change my point of view about them and their relation to me — and this can be done only by changing myself.
“Little by little I can change my world — not by escaping to a new one with the same old me, but by making a new me out of the old one.”