Friday, October 18, 2013

Pain is the Catalyst

Very few addicts or alcoholics - in my experience - wake up one day and out of the blue say “Gee, I think it’s time for me to change my life, to get clean and sober.”

The majority of us share stories of pain, of divorce, of losing jobs, of being arrested, or being evicted. It’s always something bad. The catalyst for change was always suffering and pain.

When clients come to TLC lamenting the loss of a car, a girlfriend, a home, or whatever, my response is usually “How wonderful, now you have a place to start working on your recovery.”

Because when we’re cruising through life, drinking and drugging without consequences, without a care in the world what’s our motivation to quit? To change?

But when the wheels start coming off and life gets tough then we might start looking at ourselves and discover that we’re the authors of our own misery.

When we discover that we might become grateful for our pain.