Quotes About Recovery

Accept the things I cannot change, I said. And pray for the courage to change the things I can, as well as the wisdom to know the difference. The thing is... I know this is good advice. It's called the Serenity Prayer, and it really does put things in perspective (it's suppose to be for recovering alcoholics, but it helps recovering freakoutaholics, like me, as well).

I'll never walk again, will I? I asked, looking woefully down at my ravaged feet. You will, Jesse said. Just not for a day or two. Those burns look very painful. They'll need butter. Butter? I wrinkled my nose. The best treatment for burns like those is butter, Jesse said. Uh, I said. Maybe back in 1850. Now we tend to rely on the healing power of Neosporin. There's a tube of it in my medicine cabinet behind you.

The things that break your heart when you think there`s nothing left to break

If you haven't been in a war and are wondering how long it takes to get used to losing everything you think you need or love, I can tell you the answer is no time at all.

I woke with a terrible headache and wobbled around 'till I fell out the window. You what? Fell out the window. That one over there. She [Edwina] gestured to the curtain behind her. I broke my back. My spine is all wobbly now, but it doesn't hurt.

A breakup is the single most traumatic event in the life of a woman outside of a death. Some women can take years to recover.

A codependent person is one who has let another person's behavior affect him or her, and who is obsessed with controlling that person's behavior.

Once they have been affected---once it sets in---codependency takes on a life of its own. It is similar to catching pneumonia or picking up a destructive habit. Once you've got it, you've got it. If you want to get rid of it, YOU have to do something to make it go away. It doesn't matter whose fault it is. Your codependency becomes your problem; solving your problems is your responsibility.

Except for normal human emotions we would be feeling anyway, and twinges of discomfort as we begin to behave differently, recovery from codependency is exciting. It is liberating. It lets us be who we are. It lets other people be who they are.

Recovery is not about being right; it's about allowing ourselves to be who we are and accepting others as they are.

Recovery is not only fun, it is simple. It is not always easy, but it is simple. It is based on a premise many of us have forgotten or never learned: Each person is responsible for him- or herself. It involves learning one new behavior that we will devote ourselves to: taking care of ourselves.

People and things don't stop our pain or heal us. In recovery, we learn that this is our job, and we can do it by using our resources: ourselves, our Higher Power, our support systems, and our recovery program.

Don't give up hope. It took many of us twenty years or more to acquire these protective behaviors we umbrella with the word codependency. It may take as much time as that to let go of them.

Many codependents are barely surviving, and most aren't getting their needs met.

Even recovery brings losses, more changes we must struggle to accept.

Today, I will trust that God will do for me what I cannot do for myself. I will do my part—working the Twelve Steps and letting God do the rest.

the non-drinking person in a relationship with an alcoholic got just as out of control, was in just as much pain, and needed just as much healing as the alcoholic. Al-Anon

On our worst days, we still look for something we've done toward recovery. Sometimes the best we can do is feel good about what we did not do.

We're so careful to see that no one gets hurt. No one, that is, but ourselves. —AL-ANON MEMBER

LOW SELF-WORTH Codependents

When I awoke, my first thoughts and feelings were painful.

Today, I will exchange a controlled life for one that is manageable.

Sometimes codependents were blamed; sometimes they were ignored; sometimes they were expected to magically shape up (an archaic attitude that has not worked with alcoholics and doesn't help codependents either).

Codependent No More Workbook Codependents' Guide to the Twelve Steps 52 Weeks of Conscious Contact Finding Your Way Home Gratitude