Wisdom Of The Rooms - 2016

[bluidkiti]

July 11

Quote of the Week

"Just another Bozo on the bus"

All my life I’ve been taught to do whatever I could to be the best. In school my parents drove me to work harder than everyone else so I could get A’s and stand out. In athletics my coaches drilled us to practice harder and then pushed us to give it all we had so we could win it all. When I began working professionally, it was very clear that average performance would get you fired, and that if you wanted to excel and move up, you had to work harder and be better than everyone around you. Even when I partied, I prided myself on being about to out drink and out use you as well…

Because of this, when I entered the program my ego was accustomed to comparing and to finding ways of proving I was better than you. When I heard some people’s stories, I immediately felt better than because I had never done that. And when it was suggested that I clean the coffee mugs after a meeting, I thought that was beneath me; I mean, don’t you know who I am? All these feelings of entitlement and imagined privilege nearly sabotaged my recovery, but luckily I heard today’s quote and was able to humble myself long enough to truly understand it.

My sponsor explained to me that if I wanted to get and stay sober, then I had to deflate my ego and learn to become, “right-sized.” He told me that I wasn’t any worst or any better than anybody else, I was simply a child of God. He suggested that I would get along with people better and live more comfortably in my own skin if I could begin striving to become “average.” It took a lot of years for me to see the wisdom in this kind of thinking and living, but now I’m truly happier trying to be just another Bozo on the bus.