Changing your playmates and playthings

When I first stepped into CR I heard a saying " You've got to change your playground, playmates and play things". I was confused, what did this mean? As kids we love new playgrounds. New places to explore and new friends to meet. My daughter is at this stage right now, she knows no stranger. She loves new kids to play with and enjoys new places to explore. But often as adults we lean towards the familiar. The same church every week, the same friends to sit by and the same seat. This is not just in church. We go towards goals that we are comfortable with, making decisions with our subconscious sometimes without knowing that this is what our parents did with us. We are designed that way.

But there is true freedom in branching out unto the unknown, as long as our feet are grounded. That is what God does for us, he gave us true freedom with Jesus's death and Resurrection.  He asks us to burden Him with our troubles and He will lift us up. He is the rock we are to stand upon. And because we have His power  in us we have the freedom to walk with faith. We can try new things and do the impossible without fear. God does a lot with our little faith. What would it be like if we woke up one day knowing that we couldn't be harmed. Would you test it? Would you have faith? Or would you stay in the house and huddle with fear? This is the kind of faith that God wants us to have.

This same reasoning should be applied to our hurts hang-ups and habits. We have the power to stay away from that addiction, we have the power to walk away from an abusive relationship. The question is do we walk away, or do we stay in our rotting house or in our fear. Changing playmates playgrounds and playthings are hard. Walking away from the familiar is not easy. That is why when you do this you still need to have your feet grounded. A relationship with the Lord, accountability partners, and sponsors can give you truth in a world full of lies. This is the only way to change your habits, otherwise you will end up back where you started from.

I found this was true when I realized my codependent nature for serving. I was serving in my church because I needed to feel needed, I yearned for that feeling that serving others gave me. I enjoyed serving so much that I did it at every opportunity, disregarding my physical, mental and even spiritual health. So after I finished my 12 step study I thought that I had it nipped in the bud. but didn't consult my accountability partners, sponsor or even God, before I jumped into another serving commitment. When I realized I was not supposed to be doing that job, it was very hard and embarrassing to quit.

I am also learning slowly that I have to do this with my food addiction too. Consulting my sponsor and accountability partners and God, I am slowly able to make changes in my food plan and know that these are the right decisions. I am going to change from eating white rice to eating brown rice and buy whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta. And I am doing this because the other kinds of carbs I can eat and eat and eat. And abstaining from them is too difficult for me right now. My sponsor also said to cook only one serving at a time so that I am not tempted to eat more and I agree with this statement. I also am going to have to buy some medicine to counteract the effects of certain veggies, if you get my drift.