Humility: An Essential Feature of Recovery

Humility is considered an essential trait for a person recovering from alcoholism or other addiction to have. It seems to be true that if you think you're humble, you're probably not. What is humility anyway? In early recovery I thought, wrongly, that humility was equivalent to the way I felt about myself, namely, that I wasn't worth much, that I was a bad person because of what my addiction had caused me to do, and that I was basically an unlovable person. I came to understand that all of that negativity had to do with the disease of addiction, and, indeed, did not reflect humility but a lot of self-centered fear and self-loathing that was the result of seeking power in the wrong places. Lack of power is the basic dilemma of the alcoholic or addict. Recognizing the need for, and finding, a source of spiritual strength leads the recovering individual to the beginning of a sense of humility. I suggest, humbly, I hope, that humility for the recovering person is gratefully recognizing, most of the time, that his/her recovery and the strength to live life with emotional balance come from reliance upon the help of a spiritual source, Higher Power, God, or whatever term one might use. As always, comments are invited. Jan Edward Williams, www.alcoholdrugsos.com. 07/30/2013.