Why Do I Do What I DON'T Want to Do?

Life is so interesting to me. I hired a pitching coach to work my son this season and it reminded me so much of the clients I work with everyday. The first thing they discussed was where did my son want the ball to go? Now that seems like a stupid question, but is it? When is the last time you thought about where you wanted your life to go? We all have these wishful thinking things, I wish I had a certain amount of money in the bank, I wish I were out of debt, I wish I had a different job, a different marriage, was a different kind of parent, could stay sober, could lose weight, etc. you get the picture.  

 The next thing he worked on was balance, how important it was to stay balanced so that the ball will go where you want it to go. It struck me how balance is one of the keys in life. If you work too much, play too much, spend too much, watch TV too much, stay locked onto your computer too much, eat too much, etc. you will obviously be off balance. When we are off balance our lives lose the focus of where we intend for them to go and often times the more off balance they become the more we dig into the hole we are already in thinking it will somehow pull us out. It is sort of like a ship without a rudder or with a rudder stuck in turn mode spinning us in circles.

Then they talked about approaching every pitch whether practice or in a game the same. You will do in a game what you do in practice. Hmmm…isn’t that interesting. How often we find ourselves in a crisis (the game) and we do all kinds of things to straighten it out. We spend more time with God, we rebalance our priorities, we spend quality time in our relationships, we tighten down our budgets, etc. Whatever it takes to get out of the pain. But then during practice (the floating times) we let our guard down, get back in our old ruts and thank God that little crisis is over. Then we act surprised when we frequently find ourselves in a new crisis, we are baffled how that happened just like my son wonders why his ball goes over the batters head. Now if we do everything right in life will it turn out perfect, no. Not anymore than professional pitchers only throw strikes. But the more on target and focused your life the fewer crisis that come up and the quicker the recovery time.

The last thing that hit me was the little things that a coach can see from a distance that we can’t see for ourselves. Is your head up, even? Where are your eyes, where are you looking? How high is your back hand? You know fine details that make huge differences. I am always amazed at people’s responses as I share with them little adjustments that I can see need to take place in their life and what big impact they have when they take action. Let’s take for instance if you are new in sobriety get on your knees (specifically on your knees) and ask God to keep you sober in the morning and thank Him for keeping you sober at night. You would not believe the number of people that have rolled their eyes at me when I suggested this regiment. But you will also not believe how many people have come back to me and said that is unbelievable. I thought you were crazy but there is something about humbling yourself on your knees and then asking for help. Or I often recommend reading the scriptures laid out in Victory Over Darkness to remind you Who You Are In Christ. Again I get many eye rolls and yea rights followed up with disbelief how such a simple thing gives just big results. There is something about being able to have enough distance from someone to be able to see little changes in their lives that will produce big impact. There is also something about wisdom and having a lot of so called tricks up your sleeve.

Blessings as you keep taking action toward health and wholeness.

Tammy ~ Relapse Prevention Specialist

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