I opened my e-mail yesterday and was greeted with an angry message. The message was from a woman who'd received a lengthy fax from our organization, one that was unsolicited. As I read through the message I realized she had a good point: our staff member had faxed nine pages of information that had cost her organization paper, electricity, and toner. Her anger was justifiable.

But then, as the message went on, this person described how she'd gone to look for a contact number on our website. Instead, she found this blog and began reading. After reading one of the entries, she realized her anger might be out of proportion with what had occurred. So the last half of the e-mail described how she realized she might be over-reacting. The rest of the e-mail was very complimentary. And of course I always like it when something I share in this blog helps someone in any way.

The message in her email was for me two-fold. First, I realized that no matter how well I train my staff, I have to always monitor their activities. One thing I've experienced over the years is if I don't continually revisit different phases of the program, then things might change to the point where they become unrecognizable. It seems like managers, and staff members, like to put their own imprint and ideas into practice. But my philosophy is that if something is working don't mess with it. This doesn't mean we’re not open to new ideas. But, don't fix something if it's not broken.

The other part of the message, I suppose, it's that we never know what effect we will have on others as we go through our daily lives. I write this blog mostly for me as a way of staying focused on my recovery. And also to practice writing on a daily basis. I've never believed I have the answers for others in recovery.

I like to get things down in black and white, so maybe I can get some insight into what will work for me - or others - as we journey along the road of happy destiny...