Principles before Personalities

[caressa]

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

AA doesn't say we can't have personalities, it just says we put principles before them. - Liz J.

Saw this quote from yesterday and it gave me food for thought. There are many personalities in the rooms. Some people with more than one as a result of detaching from traumatic situations. I was told I had three. We come from all walks of life and yet when you walk through the doors of recovery, there is one common ground, the desire to stay sober. For me, sobriety means soundness of mind. It isn't just about putting the plug in the jug, it is about changing the person who became as a result of her using.

For so many years, I gave away a piece of me every time I picked up. Along the way, I picked up some very undesireable traits and actions that I had to let go of and search for the goodness that was buried very deeply within.

They were there! I had been taught them growing up. Yet my disease had no use for them and for so many years, I acted out in my disease. In recovery, I had to learn what was part of my disease and what was a part of the real me that I needed to nurture and allow to grow. I needed to get honesty about what was part of my disease and needed to be let go of.

Recovery is a process. When I practice the principles in all of my affairs, I walk with my God and not in my disease.

[caressa222]

That means my personalities too.