“It’s not how often you get off track that impacts your life. It’s how fast you notice you are off track and what you learn that determines where you end up.” – Marshall Sylver
As I teach recovery principles to folks one of the principles I drum home is the idea that we can make mistakes, we can fail at times because failure is not fatal. When we move off course of our ideal program of recovery we need to move back in alignment as quickly as possible to avoid any unnecessary repercussions.
I was on a jury a few months ago the issue was a defective automobile, to be specific it was an alignment issue in dispute. The auto company discussed a concept they call “drift”. Every car has a certain amount of drift, i.e. when you let the steering wheel go the car will drift to the right or left slightly. Similarly, the human being has “drift” if we do not keep our hands on the “focus-wheel” we will drift.
How far we drift is determined by several factors. Much like how far a car drifts is determined by the crown in the road, what lane we are driving in, how the front end is aligned, or if the tires are worn disproportionately. The Tenth Step, “continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it,” offers us the opportunity to recognize the drift and readjust our focus.
How does the Tenth Step apply to early recovery you might ask. In actuality before we formally implement the Tenth Step we begin to practice the recovery principles. We learn to continue to take the next right step forward towards recovery. We stay close to a sponsor and build a support group and the process of recovery begins to take root. We build in checks and balances often without knowing we are doing so. That is the importance of building a mutual support group.
Life is good!
Go, Go, Go…
Dan 🙂