Drug Awareness: Humble Yourself to Rise Above (Step 7)

By Theresa Smith

     “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” C.S. Lewis

     Now that you’ve looked deep into your character defects and shortcomings, it’s time to truly ask for them to be removed. Now it’s time to think of yourself less. Not less of yourself, don’t ever think less of yourself. It’s time to think of yourself less. But what does that mean? It means it’s time to practice the virtue of humility.

     One important thing to keep in mind as you continue is that feelings are not character defects. You cannot choose your feelings. Character defects and shortcomings are behaviors and behaviors can be changed. You can choose your behavioral responses to your feelings, but not the feelings themselves. For example, when you are angry at someone, you can choose the behavioral response of vengeance or forgiveness. If you are feeling lonely, you can choose to isolate yourself or engage with others.

    
    With addiction, the behavioral response tends to always be to give into the disease. You felt sad so you chose your addiction to feel better; you were mad because of something someone did so you chose your addiction to deal with the feeling; you were happy about something wonderful happening to you so you chose your addiction to celebrate. It was all about making you feel better regardless of what it did to anyone else. Addiction makes you self-centered; humility makes you think of yourself less.

     This step, like previous ones, isn’t easy. It’s hard to take an honest look at yourself because you want to believe that you are better than the choices you’ve made or things you’ve done. The truth of the matter is that you are better. It is your defects and shortcomings that have been keeping you from being your best self. It’s time to get rid of them by turning toward God or the higher power of your choice and asking for help. It’s at this point that you need to realize that what you had done in the past to “fix” your flaws didn’t work. You need help and guidance to do so.

     Realizing that you alone cannot keep you from turning again to addiction is extremely important. You are strong but addiction is stronger. It’s a tug of war. That’s why you need others beside you, helping you to win. The more you stop thinking of yourself and allow others into your life to stand with you, the stronger your side grows and the less control addiction has over you.

     For more information on Alcoholics Anonymous, please call 215-923-7900 or visit http://www.aasepia.org/. You can contact the Greater Philadelphia Region of Narcotics Anonymous at 215-629-6757 or visit their website www.naworks.org.

     You can also find information in our online Heroin Supplement (www.delcomag.com/Archive/HeroinSupplementAug2016/index.html).

      If you need immediate help, please call Community Hospital at 610-497-7200. They are located at 2600 West 9th Street, Chester, PA 19013.

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