“Where we all began”, Part 2

Well, here I am, writing about addictions, obsessions and 25 or so other issues that anyone of us could face no matter how we were raised. From the day we were first deposited here, someone was watching over our growth and maturity. They were winging it according to their own less than perfect upbringing. With every mistake in our upbringing, we picked up a new possible issue or hangup. The sources of where we got our teachings from are very important in all of this, so don’t think our environment had nothing to do with our unique traits.

I was raised in a Christian environment. The Bible covers moral and emotional behavior as well as sound rules for our conduct. If we apply it’s principles to our daily lives it will help lay the groundwork to shape our character if we let it. If you were raised by some other means of teachings, then those lessons undoubtedly came into play in your life. Most Moms and Dads do the best they can in teaching us right from wrong but since we aren’t born with instruction manuals taped to our behinds, they raise us the way that their parents raised them…flaws and all.

 As many people will tell you, even if you don’t happen to believe in the Christian religion, the Bible is still a great source of teachings and guidelines to live our lives by. As we begin to acknowledge to ourselves that we aren’t perfect, we open ourselves up to the possibilty that something may be wrong with our attitudes if nothing else. We begin to feel the pangs of life coming down on us hard and we want relief...instant relief. We might decide to numb our feelings up a little using the only sedatives available to us. After all, they aren’t good feelings we are having about ourselves as we ponder the things we wonder about. They really stink.

 Drugs and alcohol begin to play the roles of band-aids and splints to brace us against the onslaught of negative feelings we have about ourselves from the issues we developed in our youth. Maybe some of these issues are just now beginning to show up and are taking root in our lives even as we read about them now. We are becoming desperate to stop the bad feelings from gaining more ground and we decide that me must do something about them.

The framework begins to go up, followed by walls and eventually entire holding cells are constructed in our minds. In short order, we began to live as hostages to the insecurities and issues we developed as youngsters and as adults. I built walls of alcohol, spending 16 years hiding from my fears. It wasn’t until I decided to face my past that the present could be dealt with. Once I faced my past issues, everything in my present became manageable.

Today I am neither a slave to my past or my present. With Gods help I became a free man. As we grow into adulthood we carry baggage along with us that often times we are unaware of. We only begin to open our eyes when we either notice on our own or often times as others begin to point out our shortcomings. Someone else pointing out our faults is rarely greeted with open arms or open minds as we are still in self protection mode.

Through a series of stages we gradually come to see the things that our friends and loved ones see... unless…and this is a huge unless. Unless we choose to live in denial of our walls and what they are hiding us from. It’s more than just a shame to choose to live out our lives without getting help...It’s a crime.