🍴Food for Thought: The Key Ingredient

In recovery, it can be tempting to look for the perfect formula.

A good counselor or sponsor, a helpful meeting, the right app, book, or plan all can be helpful.

The key ingredient for me though was something much harder and much simpler. I had to stop relying solely on my own thinking.

This was not easy! I had ideas, insight, and explanations. I could even sound reasonable when I was in real trouble.

But relying only on my own thoughts and my own ideas to understand the breadth and depth of the problem, and more importantly, to decide what I needed to do to get better, was not helping me. In truth, it was pouring gas on the fire.

Ultimately, it was killing me. I don’t say that dramatically. I say it because it was true.

My mind could be intelligent, creative, persuasive, yet completely unreliable and highly dangerous when gambling was involved.

That didn’t mean I had to stop thinking for myself entirely. I did have to become willing though to let other voices in, especially from those who had lived it, could recognize patterns I kept explaining away, were not impressed by my “reasoning,” and cared enough to tell me the unvarnished truth.

That kind of listening required open-mindedness and some measure of humility. It was the willingness to admit that my best thinking had not saved me and, in fact, was at the center of the problem.

I needed honesty, connection, and help that did not come exclusively from Sal G.

And maybe that is the key ingredient for many of us: not completely losing our own voice but becoming willing to let the right people help us hear the truth more clearly.

Ready for a 30-minute no-pressure call to gain clarity & discuss what kind of support might be most helpful for you? We’re here for you.