STEP 6 is where recovery becomes difficult, and it’s easy to get stuck. When you’ve been abused, it’s understandable to be angry. It’s normal and even healthy for a short while.
Unfortunately, more people than not get stuck in their anger and become bitter, resentful, and irreconcilable. That’s not healthy. It leads to a wasted life—a life God never intended you to live. It’s certainly not a life you want for yourself either.
Making the effort to turn away from your pride and your desire for vindication, however, can be as difficult as walking up a hill. When you walk uphill, you go against gravity and have to make a concerted effort to move forward. It’s much more difficult than walking downhill—the easy way out. By going uphill, several positive things happen. You get stronger as you make each step upward, and you gain confidence. You also know you are accomplishing something worthwhile—something that makes you more fit for the challenges of life.
It’s the same in recovery. It takes real work to abandon your pride, but that’s what you have to do. You have to stop showing your battle scars and begin the process of thinking about someone other than yourself. Doing this is like walking up a hill. It requires substantial effort, but like climbing a hill, it becomes easier the more you do it.
The sooner you stop defending your right to be offended, the sooner the healing process can begin. If you insist on maintaining your position, you will remain stuck. You can’t move forward to a peaceful life while you continue to throw stones. There’s no way to become stronger while you languish in a rut.
You have to let it go—all of it. Nursing your anger and resentment is like nursing an infection that keeps you constantly sick. Take your medicine, which in this case, is draining the infection of all malice, bitterness, and revenge. When you do, you’ll begin to get well. You’ll begin to strengthen.
This is hard for many people—perhaps most. Recovery is difficult—like walking up a hill, but it’s also rewarding. Because this can be so difficult, STEP 6 may take more time for some of you. If it does, that’s OK. Take as much time as you need, remembering that the goal is your recovery—your complete recovery.
You want to be everything you’re supposed to be in life, and this can only occur by purging yourself of toxic emotions. Once this happens, you will begin to experience love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness—the life you’ve always wanted for yourself.
