Sunday, March 16, 2014

Half Measures

The 12-step literature says “half measures” availed us nothing.  So, whatever I do I give it 100 percent.

That comes to recovery, relationships, work, relaxation, or play. Whatever it is, I give it my all.

I bring this up because lately we’ve been dealing with a few clients who can’t seem to decide whether they want to be in recovery. Or if they want to continue their addiction.

Once in a while they’ll show up hot on a drug test – even though they might've been clean for 30-60 days. They’ll appear to be doing good. Then relapse. After a few days, they drag themselves back to the program, begging to be let in. It's like they can't figure out which way to go.

There's a suggestion in the literature that if one has doubts about whether they have a problem they should take another run at it. But what these folks are doing seems almost half-hearted.

I think those who are wishy-washy should leave and pursue their addictions until they figure out if they can successfully use or not.

I never tell clients it’s a good idea to get clean or sober. Who am I?  Life is our teacher and will let them know soon enough.

When they figure that out we can help.