How a 12 Step Campus Indirectly Affected My Way of Thinking
Posted by Compulsive Disorders US Team | Filed under Compulsive Disorders
While going to college I have seen first hand how a anonymous group for students can help someone. While not an alcoholic myself, I have drug users in my family, and my group of friends. One very close friend of mine joined a 12 step programon campus 90 days ago and the results have been extraordinary. She has made a commitment to herself, and surrendered her pride to a higher power alongside a group of supporters. This has enabled her to stay in control one day at a time. The anonymous group for students she is a member of gives her the courage to stand tall in tough situations where her addiction could normally get the better of her. Within 90 days she has improved her positive energy, her healthy habits and most of all, her enjoyment of life. She writes in her journal every evening after doing her homework and before going to bed, about the challenges she overcame that day. She calls her sponsor at seven a.m. every morning before class to discuss her plan for the day. The amount of resolve she has to this twelve step program is admirable and makes me question what I’m missing out on. I claim no uncontrollable vice of my own, but is that entirely accurate?
Her newfound way of life brings me to question my own habits while living on campus. I wonder if I could be happier, healthier, more mentally and physically fit if I figured out what my vices were and found a progam on campus of my own. I decided to do some research. What I found surprised There is literally a twelve step program at my school for just about everything! From online gaming to workaholics! And if there isn’t one, then surely it could be brought up with the student counsel and arranged. I still don’t know which aspect of myself I’d like to attend to the most I think sometimes anger management may do me some good, or procrastinators anonymous. If there is a program on campus for manic depressiveness, that would certainly be my program. But I’m curious to know if a bunch of us manic depressives gather three times a week in the same place, would their cycles align? I can see it now. One week everyone in the room is ready to give up on everything, and then next week we decide to throw a party with a banner that says, “Nothing Can Stop Us!!!!” I don’t know. There are certainly things that I can improve on, and maybe I need some sort of intervention to find out what needs the most attention. I suppose that if it’s a big enough problem, it will find me. But until then I continue to draw inspiration from watching this brave college student change her life one day at a time.
But as well as making me question my own issues, her new ways have affected me in the same positive manner as they have her. Because she is not only my friend, but my soon to be fiancé, and we happen to live together, her lifestyle has a profound effect on my own and we tend to mimic each other’s habits. In this case, because her lifestyle has changed for the positive and I am entirely supportive, I no longer eat as much. All said and done, I have an enormous respect for my college for providing anonymous groups for students to help people overcome the things they do not have the strength to overcome alone. I have seen first hand the light that can shine as a result.
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