{"id":6443,"date":"2014-04-29T08:04:42","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T12:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?p=6443"},"modified":"2014-04-29T08:04:42","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T12:04:42","slug":"the-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2014\/04\/the-one.html","title":{"rendered":"The One"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When I saw this meme shortly after awakening this morning, I came smack dab up against all of the expectations I have for myself. Many’s the day when I have held the mirror to my face and fully claimed responsibility for being and doing all of these things. Not sure how or why I think that I’m supposed to be ON all the time, but it feels like every bit as much of an addiction as those my clients face.\u00a0 Last night\u00a0at my job as a\u00a0therapist in a substance abuse treatment program, \u00a0I sat in a circle\u00a0of brave\u00a0souls whose histories (some as recently as a week ago, some a year or more) included putting chemicals in their bodies that ravaged them, \u00a0hijacked\u00a0their happiness and swiped their sense of self-worth.\u00a0 I am in awe of each day they spend above the addictions, while simultaneously learning to see my own compulsions toward workaholism in the same light.\u00a0 As far as I know, there is no specific 12 step program for that AND I have applied the same principles. CODA (Codependence Anonymous) comes closest. As I work my program, my sometimes impossibly high standards to which I hold myself ease up bit by bit.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0admitted I was powerless over the belief that I had to be all things to all people and that my life had become unmanageable. My relationships had been based on erroneous assumptions that I needed to be an example and role model for keepin’ on keepin’ on, denial of pain and challenges and making it all look easy.<\/p>\n