Fun and Doing the Impossible “It’s kind of fun doing the impossible.” – Walt Disney, American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator and entrepreneur, founder of the Walt Disney Company (1901-1966) Facing certain challenges can be daunting, especially in recovery, but even more during the early days of being clean and sober. It isn’t that we don’t want to embark on something new – at least, not all the time – it is just that we may feel overwhelmed by the newness of this life in sobriety, having to deal with unexpected and rather frightening changes. First of all, there’s the matter of schedules and routines. For some of us, this may be a welcome change, while others may find it a burden. Those who have prided themselves on their individuality and rebelliousness may have a particular problem getting schedules down and adhering to them. Consider the fact that we have chosen to be sober. This is a lifestyle that we freely entered into. We have to expect there will be some requirements in order for us to continue to maintain our sobriety. This doesn’t mean that our lives need to be dull or difficult or without freedom to play. Such is absolutely not the case. What will help us immensely is to adopt a positive outlook on life, have hope that we will make the right decisions and prove up to the task, and then get busy taking action. No sitting on the sidelines wishing things were different. The only way they will be different is if we do something about it. Now let’s look at the aspect of having fun in recovery. Fun is subjective, to be sure. What we might enjoy and say is fun may not be fun at all for someone else. That’s fine. What matters is how we view our activities and involvements, what we choose to do with our time, whether that be recovery-oriented tasks and duties or activities we partake in purely for our entertainment, recreation or leisure. The more we can find something to like in what we do, the more fun we will experience. It’s like a glass that’s always full. When we approach life with a hopeful, positive attitude, we get so much more out of it than if we dread each day and much of what we feel we need to do. Getting to the point about having fun and doing the impossible, while this may sound like a contradiction in terms, it really isn’t. Certainly when we attempt a time-consuming, difficult task or take on a formidable challenge or even tackle a problem that seems insurmountable, fun doesn’t exactly fit our mental image of the action, right? Here is something to keep in mind that may help change our perspective. There must be something in whatever it is we’re doing that we can highlight as a rewarding experience. It may be that we learn something new, that we make a new acquaintance that may turn out to be a friend, we feel ourselves becoming more skilled and adept at doing a particular task, we look forward to the new day, we learn how to cope with emotions and stress and other items that have been particularly troublesome before. These are all plus experiences and should tell us that we are becoming successful in working on areas that we previously thought were impossible. The more we accomplish, the better we feel about ourselves. It makes us look forward to what the new day may bring. No longer dreading what we have on our plate, we will likely find that it is easier to assess even a difficult situation, problem, task or assignment. We can identify where we need assistance, marshal our resources, lay out an action plan and a timetable and get to work. If this doesn’t get us excited about our possibilities and potential opportunities going forward, then nothing will. Remember, keep it fun and we’ll be able to master the impossible.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 20:40:08 +0000
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