I Am Right Where I Am Supposed to Be

I got to thinking about this saying when a person spoke of their own experience with it. They started by saying how hard it was to believe they were “supposed to be,” in such seemingly hopeless circumstances. In spite of that, their life is in a good place today and they now realize that they had to start from the place they were “supposed to be,” at that dark moment in their life.

That can be a hard notion to buy into when you are at the “bottom” that led you to call it the “bottom” and start your journey back out of the hole. Perhaps you are some combination of broke, jobless, homeless, physically and emotionally drained, but compared to the life you have led up to that point, this is a good place to be. At least you are on the way up.

My mentor liked to say, “You start where you stand, but you don’t have to stay there.”

At first, it probably feels like someone has handed you a teaspoon to fill in the hole Slick drove you to digging so hard and fast you couldn’t see where you were headed. Don’t worry about that. Fill that spoon with useful actions, instead of more poison, and the spoon will grow into a shovel, a wheelbarrow and finally a bulldozer piloted by a new and sober you. One that fills in holes instead of creating them.

Glance in the rearview mirror, so you don’t forget where you came from. Remember why you don’t want to go back to that place, but don’t stare at it. Raise your eyes to the distant horizon and the vision of a better life to come. Keep believing that you will get to that better place, but keep your focus on doing the next right thing. Then look for the next right thing to do after that.

About halfway through my own treatment, the 24 Hour reading included “Yesterday is Gone. Forget It. Tomorrow Never Comes. Don’t Worry. Today Is Here. Get Busy.” To remind myself to “Get Busy,” doing the next right thing, I printed that out in large block letters and posted it on the wall where I would be sure to see it first thing in the morning.

Then I got busy working a program that addressed my issues. More on that later.

Slick finally ran his bulldozer into the ditch. Don’t help his BFF’s, anger and depression, pull his dumb ass out!

Leave that liar there! Get Busy!