Post by Linda S. on Aug 5, 2022 15:15:39 GMT -8
Thank you, Susan, for everything that you have given to LAA over the years. Letting go is hard and I pray that you will be able to do that with peace and a sense of a job well done so that you can now get some rest, recover your health, and focus on the things you love. It is up to those of us who are grateful for LAA to take the fellowship forward.
Service certainly can be a blessing and a curse, if I may say so, depending on how I approach it. I came into LAA for my love addiction and I am grateful that I have been greatly relieved of many aspects of that thanks to this fellowship and the 12 Steps of LAA.
However, my codependency has taken on a new lease of life through LAA and service and it has brought out the best, and also the worst, in me. It has certainly given me ample opportunity to take my own inventory (and wrongly sometimes that of others). Numerous times I've worked my 10th Step on this and asked God to remove my shortcomings and defects of character as they come to light.
This piece of literature on Service from the Love Addicts website is a wonderful guide to help us in the process. I have referred to it often, especially this point:
8. Being willing to surrender the position in which I serve in the interest of unity. To provide the opportunity for others to serve and to avoid problems of money, property, and prestige. I always need to be vigilant and avoid losing sight of my own recovery, by trying to rescue, control, doing for others, what they need to do for themselves or being the victim etc. avoid losing my own recovery through the use of service to act out my old behavior, especially in taking care of others, controlling, rescuing, being a victim, etc.
I have acted out in all those ways in the name of service, and ask forgiveness of anyone I have hurt or offended. Progress, not perfection. I will continue to serve for as long as I am entrusted with that by the fellowship or until I'm led to step down. That said, I am seeking out more balance in my life, too, and love the saying that it takes a village. This fellowship is like a worldwide village and we can only keep this going if we all do our own little bit. We must be the change we want to see in the world. Let's not louse this thing up.
Service certainly can be a blessing and a curse, if I may say so, depending on how I approach it. I came into LAA for my love addiction and I am grateful that I have been greatly relieved of many aspects of that thanks to this fellowship and the 12 Steps of LAA.
However, my codependency has taken on a new lease of life through LAA and service and it has brought out the best, and also the worst, in me. It has certainly given me ample opportunity to take my own inventory (and wrongly sometimes that of others). Numerous times I've worked my 10th Step on this and asked God to remove my shortcomings and defects of character as they come to light.
This piece of literature on Service from the Love Addicts website is a wonderful guide to help us in the process. I have referred to it often, especially this point:
8. Being willing to surrender the position in which I serve in the interest of unity. To provide the opportunity for others to serve and to avoid problems of money, property, and prestige. I always need to be vigilant and avoid losing sight of my own recovery, by trying to rescue, control, doing for others, what they need to do for themselves or being the victim etc. avoid losing my own recovery through the use of service to act out my old behavior, especially in taking care of others, controlling, rescuing, being a victim, etc.
I have acted out in all those ways in the name of service, and ask forgiveness of anyone I have hurt or offended. Progress, not perfection. I will continue to serve for as long as I am entrusted with that by the fellowship or until I'm led to step down. That said, I am seeking out more balance in my life, too, and love the saying that it takes a village. This fellowship is like a worldwide village and we can only keep this going if we all do our own little bit. We must be the change we want to see in the world. Let's not louse this thing up.