There is a reason why I have such a strong tendency to isolate...people can sometimes say things and do things that are so wrong! Or at least that is my perception at times. Someone can say something to me or not say something to me and I get offended. Many times I am correct in my analysis of the situation. I have been hurt. So what do I do with that hurt? Now I am faced with a choice. Sometimes I don't recognize it as a choice in the process. But nonetheless, I make a choice.

I can chose to "shrink back" in my recovery. Allow my offense to validate my decision to withdraw from attending meetings, continuing conversations of accountability with my sponsor or accountability partners etc. But these choices don't follow what I have learned about my recovery.

Or, I can chose to follow step 9: make amends to such people. Matthew 5:23-24 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in from of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

The relationships in my life are very difficult to maintain, they take work. They also take me being humble, even when I am in the right. But my being in the right isn't the important thing. My being in relationship is the important thing. When I chose to separate or isolate from my friends and family, somehow, I find I am also putting some level of separation between myself and God. That's what got me into needing recovery in the first place!

"Two can accomplish more than twice as much as one, for the results can be much better. If one falls, the other pulls him up; but if a man falls when he is alone, he's in trouble...And one standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer; three is even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken." Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

I choose recovery!