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It
was a long day today. I sat in an all day seminar. The speaker was an
excellent speaker. However, my mind and eyes kept wandering to the window
watching the snow falling down. I knew I had an hour and half drive home.
I was at a crossroad decision. Do I leave the seminar early to get
home before the roads got worse or take my chance hoping the weather would
not get worse? I chose to stay. My company had invested in me to go and
become more educated for my position.
After
leaving the seminar at 4:30 PM the snow was blowing. I was now caught in
rush hour traffic. I am not use to city traffic. I am a country gal use to
two lane roads not busy highways with four lanes.
I found myself at a crossroad trying to decide which lane I needed
to be in for the exit that would take me to the next route I needed to be
on to get home safely. I studied the signs and chose the correct lane.
As
my journey continued home, the weather worsened. There was a car following
closely behind me. As a matter of fact, the car was driving to close for
my comfort. I found myself at another crossroad decision. Do I pull over
and let them go by? Do I just continue navigating slowly and hope they
don’t run into the back of me? Since there was no place to pull over
safely, I chose to continue to drive slowly. I thought to myself if they
want to pass me they will.
Due to all the correct crossroad decisions, I arrived home safely.
We
have all come to many crossroads in our life. There is always a decision
to make. To choose the right path at times can be difficult.
I
am sure if you are a nonalcoholic in an alcoholic relationship, there will
come a time that the major crossroad appears to you. This is where I speak
of the choice that we have to make. As Doug Kelley states in his eBook, The
Survivor’s Guide to Alcoholic Relationships:
If
you want complete relief from an alcoholic relationship you only have
two possible alternatives: 1. The alcoholic recovers, or 2. You leave
the relationship. Now you have one decision to make: You can take care
of the problem now, or suffer longer and still take care of the problem
later. Either way you, you will take care of the problem eventually, or
die from the pain. Your choice. Period. Case Closed.
Wow!
What a crossroad decision to make!
During
this crossroad in your life you will experience many feelings within
yourself. You may struggle with many inner conflicts.
You may find yourself filled with many fears.
How
will I survive financially? How will the kids handle this decision? Can I
handle being alone? The positive memories will be flooding at the gate of
your brain. You will find yourself trying to fool yourself with thoughts
like... geez it is not all that bad, he/she does not drink that much, he
/she really is a good person. The list can and will go on and on.
I
encourage you to take some quiet time for yourself when you come to that
crossroad of making a decision.
Let your mind experience the visions of how your life has really
been. Let your mind be creative as to what peace and happiness you can
have if you choose the path in the crossroad that leads to ending the pain
now.
When
we are at a crossroad on a trip and don’t know which way to turn, we may
get a map out for assistance. I ask you as you read this to get your map
out. What map? If you have found your way to Empowered Recovery there are
many tools available to assist you with the crossroad decision you have to
make. The big map is the Empowered Recovery website. Within this map,
there are many directions to lead you. There is the Survivor’s Guide
eBook, articles, links to other materials and much more. I feel one really
useful tool is the Empowered Recovery Forum.
One
year ago this month, I found myself at the crossroad decision. I got the
big map of Empowered Recovery out. With the assistance of everything that
was available to me, I found myself on the journey of whom I am and who I
can be. I
arrived to an enjoyable place. I arrived to my life. I had chosen to end
the pain.
You
are not alone on the journey. You are not alone at the crossroad decision.
I encourage you to keep steering in the right direction. We will help you.
We will say “Welcome!” We are excited you chose the crossroad
that led to us, but most of all that led to you finding you!
--Robin
Walters, January 26, 2006
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