Hope and Happiness Are in the NOW
“I am ashamed because I don’t know myself right now, and I’m forty-three.” John Grant, Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore? Look around the room at any 12 Step meeting and you will see people of all age groups; from those in their late teens to those in their seventies. Of course it’s easy to sit amidst these people and compare ourselves. Maybe we are just now entering recovery and we’re 43 years old. We see people in the seats around us who are in their twenties and we immediately feel old beyond hope. Suddenly the floodgates to shame and regret fly open and we begin to drown in our self-pity. We think “Wow, how did these kids get their act together so early in life? Why did it take me so long? I wish I hadn’t wasted so much of my life caught-up in my addictions and denial. If only I would have…” You can fill in your own regrets. Go ahead, Get it off your chest—then let go of it. Everyone enters recovery with regrets. I was in my thirties when I finally hit-bottom, an...