TRAIT EIGHT
July 11, from “Strengthening My Recovery” daily reader
“We became addicted to excitement.” BRB p. 16
“For most people, a lot of things can create excitement: seeing a new movie, having a favorite old friend visit, preparing for a holiday, shopping, getting a new pet, celebrating birthdays, and even sex. But the problem for many adult children is our need to create excitement in order to feel alive. Too often, this is done in a negative way that harms us and our relationships.
In adulthood, this addiction to excitement can play out in many ways, including starting frequent arguments with a spouse, having an affair that creates excitement and then pain, playing extreme sports because we crave the adrenaline rush, or using drugs or alcohol to feel up.
If we don’t have a certain level of excitement in our lives on a regular basis, we feel like life is boring, something is just not right, we are missing out, or maybe we are just not loved.
In recovery, we can identify the ways in which we created excitement that harms us and our loved ones. We then learn to stop ourselves before we go over the line. This can give us a sense of calm that may seem uncomfortable at first, but we’ll get used to it. This is part of learning who we are.
On this day I pray for the wisdom to identify negative excitement that I may create. I no longer wish to harm myself and others by this behavior.”
My Experience:
Addicted to excitement is sometimes read as chaos. When we participate in those items that are mentioned above, we need to really dig deep inside ourselves and ask why? Is doing drugs and/or drinking really what we need in order to have a good time, or do we need to find other things to have a good time. Is the possibility of someone else in your life really causing you excitement or should you really figure out what your needs are and communicate those to the person in your life? Is going to the extreme in sports and the like really something that puts you so close to death that you need that to be alive, or do you really just want to have fun. You have to ask yourself these questions in order to move away from the chaos. Me, I just want to have fun. I don’t need any extreme sports, give me a good game of pickleball and I am fine. Let me fly a kite on a beach and I am good. Maybe even a sunset walk in the neighborhood will do. It’s the appreciation of these small things that give you appreciation for life. Let’s live for us, not just the excitement for which we must continually ramp up in order to get the “high.” Set your addiction down and join me while we enjoy life!
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