I have heard this quote throughout the years. I was surprised to find out that it is an oldie by Friedrich Nietzsche. He was a 19th-century German philosopher and classical philologist. (I wouldn't even try to pronounce his name and don't ask me what a philologist is, I didn't do that much research :)
Anyway, I thought about this quote in relation to my drinking, which hasn't killed me, but if I start drinking again, I feel it surely will. I feel like staying sober has made me stronger. Pretty much of a no-brainer, but just wanted to share.
Perhaps there is something deeper we can draw from this.
Consider the recovered alcoholic and the 10th step promises. Something terrible happens, the loss of a loved one, a job, a relationship ends, one of those big life crises. If he/she has stayed in fit spiritual condition through helping others, the promises kick in and drinking will not even appear as an option. We feel the pain alright, but we grow through it and come out the other end wiser and stronger for the experience. Some of the 10th step promises are - the drink problem has been removed, it does not exist for us, we react sanely and normally (even to grief), we have been placed in a position of neutrality, safe and protected.
What would have lead us back to drinking and possibly killed us, has made us stronger. We are protected by the spiritual experience which is the result of working the 12 steps.
Conversely, we see, and have possibly experienced, the situation where something bad happens to the person who has not yet taken the steps and had their spiritual experience. Often the obsession returns, they find themselves in that strange mental blank spot and they naturally turn to their old solution. If they survive and take the steps they may end up stronger, but they do not always survive.
Better to take the steps now and be sure of recovery than risk being caught by one of lifes trials or low spots.
Hi everyone! While I can't recall where I heard this, it seems to me that I remember something about trees -- that the force of the wind makes the fibers of the tree trunk stronger and firmer. And, if a tree happened to grow where there is no wind, it would grow very weak and its wood would not be strong enough to build anything with. Anyone else ever heard of this? Anyway, when I look back through my life, I can see that it was all the challenges and difficulties in my life that have made me stronger and more useful to other people. What a topic! I love it. Blessings, Mike D.
Wonderful postings from you all and Mike H., you give me hope as I have been really worried about how to get through a tragedy, despite my sobriety time, without wanting to drink because it has been the way I have handled difficulties in the past. Mike D., I have never heard that about trees and am glad you thought of it and shared how you can use that example in your own life.
Before I knew much about alcoholics I foolishly assumed they were weak broken down wrecks who were chewed up and spit out by life. Now I see them as fighters, wizened warriors who've been to the other side, stared death in the eye and bravely chose life. I now know through my own battles that there is nothing weak about those of us who have worked to get our disease into a state of remission. Sadly alcoholism takes those of us not strong enough or who don't have help to fight it. Only the strong and those they're able to help survive. It's not a judgement on those who lose the fight with their disease...it's just the reality of nature.
-- Edited by Butterfinger on Sunday 19th of January 2014 09:20:45 AM
