02/09/2026
A New thought One Day at a Time – Feb 8
Day 39
Came to believe . . .
We’ve been talking about the concept of a power greater than ourselves.
The second of the traditional 12 steps.
We’ve been mainly focused on the Came to believe part.
But the full step is . . .
“Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity”.
That second half is a doosy of a concept, is it not?
I mean . . . if we need to be RESTORED to sanity, that says that we have been INsane to such a degree that we need to be restored . . . right?
That’s a whole nother conversation. We’ll get back to that one soon.
But today, let’s look at this . . .
Awhile back I mentioned the old adage of being “sick and tired of being sick and tired”.
Did that resonate with you at all?
Did it take you back to the early days of your recovery journey?
Do you think that you’re past those days?
Or do you think that concept never applied to you at all?
Perhaps these are the early days for you.
Usually, this line is looked at as an early in recovery idea. A way for folks to hopefully see through the part of themselves that’s been in denial, to see the truth more clearly.
This question is often asked when someone is trying to help us see through the haze.
Like, “Aren’t you sick and tired of being sick and tired?”
When we get to the point where we can admit this to ourselves, that’s when a major shift in our process occurs, and we see that we need to make some major changes.
If you’ve come out of a deep dive into addiction, that idea of being sick and tired of being sick . . . and tired . . . becomes emblematic of a “bottom”. One where folks find themselves in some of the more troublesome results of addiction life.
Lost jobs. . . Police and legal problems. . . Lost relationships and families in crisis. The whole nine yards. So much trouble that the person finally admits they need help.
And when we’re using and living in a way that’s clearly not good for us, we usually have some physical consequences as well. Like being very tired because we haven’t slept enough in a long time. And the wear and tear of the using takes a toll. Using can literally be causing us to be sick. Like having hangovers. But worse and long term.
Looking at things from the New Thought perspective it can be easy to overlook these aspects of our history. Easy to forget.
Was any of this your experience? If so, are you feeling like you’re past all of that now?
Or maybe you feel like you never really had those kinds of troubles and that wasn’t your fate at all.
Is that you?
If we’ve been on the journey a while and we’re down the road a ways, shouldn’t this line hit differently? Doesn’t that make sense?
I think this phrase can apply to us long after we’ve given up the stuff.
Here’s something to consider . . . what if this idea of being sick and tired of being sick and tired has . . . levels?
What if one way to look at this line is that it’s saying that we’re sick and tired of being stuck?
Maybe it’s about being stuck in some old pattern? Or multiple old patterns?
Ask yourself . . . where in my life am I stuck in a pattern that I’m sick of?
Like, holy moly . . . am I still doing THIS?
As we travel this road and if we’re doing our regular introspection, we will find that we seldom leave our old patterns entirely in the dust, never to be faced again.
Nope.
What we usually find is that we keep coming around to some central issues for ourselves. And if we’re honest about it, that can feel frustrating.
Are ya with me here?
So how do we break these old patterns?
As always it starts with awareness. . . As we become aware that we’re tired of being stuck in old patterns, we have more interest and motivation to go through some discomfort in order to change.
The first and biggest change is to let go of the using of substances and behaviors that we identify as our addiction, and that’s huge!
I mean really huge!
But as we go along, we begin to realize that was just the beginning.
Have you come to see that you have patterns that you are sick and tired of?
Affirmation – Today I see my patterns more clearly. I know that feeling of being sick and tired of them is a good thing! That lets me know that I am ready for change! I’m excited and ready to see where these changes will take me. What’s next? Should be fun!