Wisdom Of The Rooms - 2023

[bluidkiti]

April 3

Quote of the Week

"What other people think of me is none of my business."

How much of my time and energy have I spent worrying about what other people think of me? “Too much,” is the short answer. Before recovery, I had few boundaries and little sense of self. How I felt about myself and my life was largely determined by whether other people approved of me or not. With no internal awareness, other people’s likes and dislikes, moods and opinions were the compass I used to evaluate and direct my emotional life. This exhausted me and contributed to the bottom that drove me into the program.

Thank God for recovery through the Twelve Steps. In particular, while writing my Fourth Step inventory, the “my part” fourth column, I found the freedom and encouragement to discover and validate my own feelings. This process continued as my sponsor helped me take the focus off others and taught me to look within for my own truth. At first this was an unfamiliar and uncomfortable process, but it was the only path to the security, confidence, and peace I had always craved.

Today, I’ve come to honor and welcome my feelings, and I now trust and rely on them as the ultimate validation for my sense of self. I recognize that other people have their own thoughts and opinions, and they are valid for them. But today, there is a boundary between the two, and my opinion and acceptance of myself are no longer linked to other people’s approval. Today, I enjoy the freedom and empowerment that come from respecting, and even loving, myself.