Humility

Someone reminded me that humility can take a lot of pressure off of oneself.  This is because humility is the acceptance of myself as I am, rather than as I want to be or think I should be.  Humility allows me for a moment to stop fantasizing, striving, shaming and guilting myself because I am not other than I am at this moment.  I might even throw in a “welcome prayer.”  I welcome myself to be just as I am at this moment in time, if it is part of what is going to lead to change for the better.  Think of someone who hits bottom, the pits in their life.  They may wish they were anywhere and anyone but who they are at that moment.  But that is the moment of “bottoming out.”  For a drunk, it can be the doorway to recovery, so in a sense, the bottom can be welcomed or at least appreciated later when the drunkard is into recovery.  If some situation seems so dreadful that it leads us to change for the better, then some humility is called for.  “Welcome mess!  You have led me to finally make a change for the better.”  Beating up on myself never did me any good.  Blaming people, places and situations does not lead me to change for the better.