You Can Do It!
“The circus elephant doesn’t run away because he’s been chained to a stake like that since he was very, very little.” Dr. Jorge Bucay , Let Me Tell You a Story Before recovery, many of us had a favorite motto: “I can’t do it.” People would lovingly tell us we needed to start helping ourselves, and we would say “I can’t do it. I need you to do it for me!” Or others might suggest that we seek help from a therapist or a support group and we’d quickly blurt out “I can’t do it” as we adamantly listed every reason why we couldn’t possibly help ourselves. Recovery has taught us that we alone are responsible for ourselves—and that no one else is. As a result, most recovering people learn to trade-in their “I can’t do it” motto for an “I can do it” motto. We have learned to be responsible for our own self-care by partnering with a Higher Power, and by setting the proper boundaries that allow us to take care of ourselves. And we’ve learned that we must care for ourselves first ...