January 18, 2016

Quote of the Week

"If the grass is greener on the other side, it's because they are putting fertilizer on it!"

I've spent a lot of my life envying what other people had, resenting I didn't have it too, and feeling I deserved it. I've always felt smarter, more talented, better looking, and more suited for the success I've seen others enjoying. I never understood why others seemed to have all the breaks until I entered recovery, and then I got a harsh lesson...
 
As I started to share my feelings of entitlement with my sponsor, he began to ask me some difficult (for me!) questions. "Why didn't you stay in college?" he asked. "Money is in sales, not college," I answered. "If you think you'd be such a great actor, why haven't you taken acting classes?" "Ah, it's not what you know, it's who you know," I scoffed. After a while, he pointed out that I had all the answers except the one that mattered.
 
It took me a long time before I could admit that perhaps the reason I wasn't successful was because I wasn't doing the things that successful people do. As childish as it may sound, I learned that the world wasn't waiting to give me things just because of who I thought I was. It took a while, but now I get it:
 
If the grass is greener on the other side, it's because they are putting fertilizer on it!