Strength

I consider myself to be a strong person, a tough person. I can take a lot. I can do almost anything I set my mind to. I consider myself to be usually a calm body of water (with my emotions) and not much causes the waters to get stormy. Strength, to me, means having a good will. It means being able to survive and live through storms. I am a strong ship. It will take a lot to capsize this boat and sink it.

I am not invulnerable, like the Titanic was supposed to be. Truly strong people are vulnerable. They aren't really afraid to let their feelings show or discuss them. A strong person, in my humble opinion, is strong enough to put their feelings out there and expose them to criticism or other adversity, and still be unrattled by that adversity.

There is such a thing as a strong program. I think if we keep honestly working a program, doing maintenance steps and not taking life, or ourselves, too seriously or personally we will LIVE. It is impossible to really live if we are weak (like we are when we are actively addicted.) It is just surviving, scrapping to get by when we are using. Weakness means we are slaves to our emotions whether they be real or chemically enhanced emotions. I've seen plenty of people who are actively using, and it seems like they have no handle on their resentments, their hate, their anger and their depression. They have no strength to swim away from the sewer.....

I think to be strong it requires some measure of self confidence. I think it requires a good self esteem.

I think to be truly strong, we must be able to rely on those that are stronger then we are. I think strong people have a lot of faith in a higher power. God/dess is a rock. God/dess isn't afraid to feel or let others know how S/He feels. I think strong people must be strong in love. They aren't afraid to love.

They say that "That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger." I think that's where I got my strength. I've been in many life or death situations. I've learned that it does not help to get rattled or panic in such situations. I've been through a lot of crap in my life. It is important to be able to get back up and dust oneself off. It was because of encouragement from my higher power, I'm sure that I was able to get back up, with dignity even, and keep going. I learned something when I used to roller skate -- you fall down you're going to get run over if you don't get back up. Unless something is broken -- then a strong person calls out for help! Strong people aren't afraid to accept help, either.

True strength is within. The longer we are in this program the stronger we will get. The stronger we get, the longer we can walk our talk....

True strength is in being flexible too. To be able to bend in the wind is stronger then being so brittle we break. Sometimes, meetings are like the wind. We learn to bend. We learn to gain our ability to bend and go with the flow from others in meetings.

It is not necessary to be strong to start recovering. But, strength and gaining strength can help us to stay sober and clean. Just for today!