[bluidkiti]

January 10

Quote of the Week

"If you can’t learn to laugh at yourself, we’ll do it for you."

How serious everything seemed when I entered recovery. Overwhelmed by the problems I’d created, a home life that was in shambles, being unemployed and unemployable, I didn’t find very many things amusing. But the people in the rooms sure did. I often sat in amazement as one after another would share horrible experiences of things they’d done, or that had happened to them, while the room roared with laughter! What is wrong with these people? I thought.

The way that people were able to laugh and make fun of themselves made me uncomfortable to say the least. Still filled with the secret shame of my own experiences and thoughts, I was much too self-conscious to share or reveal myself. I was sure that if you knew what I had done, then you’d banish me from the rooms, and I’d have nowhere to go. Once again, just like when I was out there drinking, I felt trapped and alone.

Thank God I jumped into the middle of this program and got active. As I worked my way through the Steps and my life started to improve, I soon found myself identifying and laughing right along with everyone else. In fact, after a while I had enough distance and perspective on my life that I could even begin to see the humor in some of the humiliating situations my own warped way of thinking had gotten me into. I found I had developed compassion and empathy for myself, and this allowed me to laugh again—and what a gift that’s been.