Half measures availed us nothing…

     The Big Book says that if we have decided we want peace and freedom then we must be “willing to go to any lengths” to get it.

     It also says, “We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, p.58

     Why do half measures yield zero results? Because our solution must be more powerful than our addiction, which has grown very powerful over the years. If we have been a one-man wrecking ball for years and years, then group therapy, some role play, and a few anti-depressants aren’t gonna cut it. Also, God knows that we have been half-assing life yet fully expecting top notch results. Why would we get off so easily for a lifetime of recovery? Isn’t it better for addicts to do some hard work on themselves for a payoff that we really don’t deserve to begin with?

     We must be willing to go to any lengths because this requires us to fully commit to spiritual growth. If we are willing to do anything it takes to get better, then we have undergone a fundamental change within. We have let go of our old ways. In fact, we may have to shed our entire identity or life’s purpose. This is the requirement to undergo an “entire psychic change”, where alcohol and drugs are no longer a problem for us.

     The psychic change is also responsible for changing the way we think and the way we conduct ourselves. No longer will we live and breathe through a self-centered frame of reference. To undo a lifetime of selfishness, we must be at least willing to do anything it takes.

     By the way, that famous Big Book line ‘half measures availed us nothing’ was taken from the text of an old relative of mine: Richard Peabody’s The Common Sense of Drinking

God, remind me everyday that half measures yield half results, or no result whatsoever…