"When you get there you'll meet yourself at the bus station," my ex told me.
I didn't answer her. But to myself I said "What a mean-spirited bitch. How could she say that?"
But she was right. Within a few hours of leaving the bus depot I was living on Van Buren Street in Phoenix. I was right in the middle of drug and alcohol central. And I was high and drunk until I ended up in a detoxification unit. And it took another nine years before I entered recovery.
The point is that it's difficult to escape who we are. Wherever we go we meet ourselves there. It takes commitment and work to make lasting change.
Of course we have a better chance if we get out of our old environment because we're not around the temptation. But lasting change requires a great deal of internal work. More than only changing locations.
We examine our beliefs. We learn that we've been living a self-centered life of gratification, thinking only of ourselves. We begin to accept who we are, that we're nothing special.
We smash our ego and learn to live in reality. And we come to realize we must accept ourselves if we want peace in our lives.
