Why I am GRATEFUL for my addiction

GRATITUDE! It is really easy to be grateful for the good times. The bad times we have trouble being grateful for. We often see quarterbacks thank God after a touchdown and boxers after a victory. We do not see them showing gratitude after the interception they throw or the knockout they suffer. I hope they give thanks and express gratitude in private. If they do not, they should be! I dare each and every one of you to "Tebow" when you have setbacks and thank God!

How idiotic does that sound to you? I know that this is a hard concept for a lot of us to grasp, being grateful for our shortcomings, traumas and miscues. Why should we grateful? Thanking God for our loses and hurts sounds insane to us, but it should not be.

Most athletes interviewed years after huge losses share that it was the loss that led them to work that much harder to become better and insure that it would not happen again. Strategists learn just as much from their defeats as their victories, probably more. We learn from the valleys, not the peaks!

 Ultimately there are multiple reasons to be grateful for the pain and mistakes of and from our past. Hopefully you remember the saying, "Those who do not know their past are doomed to repeat it." It means that we should learn from our mistakes and prepare ourselves so that they do not reoccur. I have been through multiple experiences in the past where I was hurt by others, I hurt others, or I hurt myself. The beautiful thing is that I can use those experiences to teach me how not to hurt or be hurt in the future.

Being hurt by myself /others and hurting myself/others has taught me how to deal with the hurt. I know what it feels like to hurt and therefore I can cope with it better than most. Mike Tyson had a saying that I really like, "Everybody has a plan until they're getting punched in the face." That is why in sparring people get hit hundreds of times in the face and body, because that teaches them how to take the hits and still think coherently and continue performing. Due to the trauma in my past, I can go through hell and keep functioning well.

I also have the ability to help others going through extreme situations that most do not have. I can help others and be more genuine and empathetic with them because I too have been through similar situations. Not saying that you have to go through hard times to help others through them, but it doesn't hurt. In fact it only helps. Having that first-hand knowledge helps me be more effective in helping others.

Finally, I think that all of the situations I have been through make me much more appreciative of my relationship with Christ and of my recovery. As an Agnostic and an addict I knew what it was like to live through hell. I knew how it felt to be rudderless and hopeless when crisis occurred. Life had me beat!

In Christ and recovery I know what it is to live through hell, because bad things still happen. The difference is that now I have direction and hope. I am eternally optimistic! I have an attitude of gratitude because I always know that it could be worse, I have already been there. Bottom line, even when I lose I win.

So when you hear someone say that they are grateful for their addiction, or their depression, or the abuse they suffered as a child hopefully you will not think them crazy. Instead you will know that they are not saying they are HAPPY that it happened, but instead they are saying that they are STRONGER and WISER because of it. They are saying they would not be the person they are today without it..........and they love who they are today!