When I was living with untreated Bipolar Disorder and Alcoholism, I was obsessed with being “in control” of people, places, things, and circumstances over which I had no control.
My modalities of “being in control” included lying to others and myself, manipulation, denial, bullying, obsessive thinking, intellectualizing, shaming, compulsive behaviors, and putting forth exhaustive efforts to get things to go my way.
Paradoxically, the harder I tried to control, the more out of control and miserable I felt and became.
When I got into recovery, I learned that there are very few things over which I have much influence in this Universe, that there is a Higher Power -and I am not It, and that I needed to surrender all those things over which I was powerless to Them.
Freedom from bondage!
INSPIRATION AND EMOTIONAL COURAGE: MENTAL ILLNESS, ADDICTION, AND RECOVERY 