by Beth Livingston
Certified Recovery Specialist
We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. Alcoholics Anonymous
Have you been sober for a while now or experienced victory over some other self-destructive behavior? When we’ve been free over one area of difficulty, we need to continue to take personal inventory because God often wants to reveal another area of our lives that He can help us clean up. It’s rare that we are free from all the behaviors that plague us when we’ve gotten free from one addiction. Many of us may stumble back into a behavior and this continual personal inventory becomes the catalyst for admitting that we’ve slipped up and need to get back on track.
In my life, God cleansed me of alcohol first; then cigarettes and then pot. These occurred with years in between. Had I not continued to seek what God wanted to change my life, I might still be smoking. In fact, now that all those things are gone from my life, God is now teaching me about co-dependency. Evidently, I’m addicted to having peace at all costs. If I were to try to pinpoint where I am on this journey to wholeness in regards to co-dependency, I would say that I am in Step Five. I’m admitting to God, myself and others why it’s wrong to seek peace at all costs. The most basic truth that I can find so far is that sometimes we have to have conflict; it’s part of life. God will help me find ways to be comfortable with conflict and not dodge it anymore. (If you have any pointers for me, I’m all ears.)
The reason I bring that up is to demonstrate that recovery is a process. We can be at different stages with different behaviors, all headed toward the goal of living a healthy life. Step 10 encourages us to continue in the process. We admit we have a problem, ask God to help us get rid it, encounter difficulties along the way to getting rid of it, apologize to people we’ve hurt, and continue to repeat this cycle as often as needed.
What have you experienced that you believe relates to this step? Please share what you’ve learned about taking personal inventory and admitting it.