Why you can't control it alone #sobriety #surrender

What does an addict actually have to surrender? In a very general way, it's about surrendering to a higher power. It's about realizing that when I try to run my own life based on my own will, I get disastrous results, and that I surrender to the will of a loving higher power, and instead of trying to make my life be the way that I want it to be, I allow God to direct me, and things tend to turn out better. But, I want to explain this to you on an even deeper level that is probably counterintuitive to most people. And that is that among the things that an addict surrenders is the struggle with the addiction itself. In other words, one definition of the addiction is the very nature of the fact that it's a vicious cycle. The more you fight it, the deeper you fall into it. Remember those Chinese finger traps we used to have as kids? You had the little tube and you put your finger at both ends, and then if you pull on it, it gets tighter, you get more stuck, and then you have to realize the secret is you lean into it, and then it loosens, and then you could pull your finger out. That's what addiction is. The more I try to manage it, the more I try to get it under control, the bigger and crazier [snorts] this thing gets. And so, it's counterintuitive. Rather than recovery being about how to manage the addiction, it's about recognizing the fact that this is something that is so big that no human power is effective against it. But, the good news is we have a power greater than human power to rely upon if we surrender and let it in.