I remember the impact it made on me when I heard, “the only step I need to do perfectly is Step One.”
As a recovering perfectionist, being told I should be “perfect” in admitting my powerlessness and my inability to manage my life HURT.
Now I understand that admitting my powerlessness and admitting that my life is unmanageable means I wandered off my path – and that I have the responsibility to course correct. That the solution is a spiritual one reminds me that I am ALWAYS fine in the eyes of God and, for the most part, to everyone else WITHOUT strangling to death my life, my job and my relationships.
How do I know I am powerless over sugar?
- When I ingest sugar, I break out in CRAVINGS.
- When I ingest sugar, I cannot predict how much I will eat or when I will stop.
- When I am not eating sugar, I am obsessing over it: How will I not eat it? What can I eat instead? How will I handle x, y, z situation without sugar or turn away from it when it is there for the taking? If I do have sugar, how much, how MUCH, HOW MUCH and not sink into remorse and despair?
- I am restless, irritable and discontent – it is never enough and too much all at the same time. It starts out like this with just sugar and then it bleeds over to everything else in my life.
So what to do?!?!?
To address 1 and 2, I must abstain 100%. To address 3 and 4, I turn to the rest of the 12 steps to be restored to sanity, to have the obsession lifted and to find relief from the restlessness, irritability and discontent.
Steps 2 through 12, I do not have to do perfectly. Phew! As long as I approach them with the HOWs of the program: Honesty, Open-mindedness and Willingness… As long as I continue to expand my spiritual life, there is hope for a daily reprieve from consuming the poison that will cause cravings, obsession and discontent. More than that, there is the promise to live happy, joyous and free.
Join me in March to do the 12 steps on sugar (donation basis). I am holding a free information session on Monday, February 21at 10 a.m. to provide an overview and answer any questions. The info session and the meetings will be recorded and distributed to everyone who registers.
The four meetings will be Friday, March 4, 11, 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. PT. I will be asking for a $32 donation for the 4-weeks to cover the cost of technology (Zoom, the website hosting, email service provider fees), but no one will be turned away for inability to pay and no money will be collected at registration. Much like the official 12 step programs, I would like to honor the tradition of “no dues or fees for membership, but we support ourselves through our own contributions.” Contributions will be collected as the course progresses.
I also wanted to let my peeps know about a free challenge that starts around the same time: The Design Your Best Life Challenge offered by my friend Natalie Ledwell. After the challenge, you will have the chance to join her paid coaching program. It isn’t my style to push programs, but Natalie and her Ultimate Success Masterclass came into my life while I was still drinking and searching…. Really searching. She was one of the first people I called when I learned I had to opportunity to adopt my son and let her know that her program was key to my fresh sobriety. So if 2022 is the year you want to go all in on your personal growth, then join the free challenge, tune into your intuition and see if it is for you.
