Thought for the Week

Timothy D. Stein, MFT, CSAT

June 10, 2013

Insanity helps us appreciate and value our sanity.

If you attend a 12-step meeting, you may hear an “old-timer” talk about how they appreciate being an addict. They are not expressing that they are proud of their past behaviors. Nor are they expressing denial about how their addiction significantly impacted other people in and around their lives. What they are expressing is how much they are able to appreciate their life, their relationships, and their daily emotional experiences because of how chaotic, painful, and destructive their lives were when they were active in their addiction. While I do not recommend that anyone create insanity in their life, I do think it is important to recognize how the dark of our past can help us to appreciate what we have in our present.

How do my past struggles help me to better appreciate my current experiences? If I am in a dark and painful place in my life, how might this experience allow me to appreciate the gifts that are waiting for me in my future?