A brief spoken reflection by Nick Stumbo on human powerlessness and recovery. Stumbo argues that admitting moments of powerlessness—rather than denying them—is a humbling but ultimately freeing step in recovery because it identifies patterns to avoid and ownership of one’s limits.
And there is a part of us that doesn't want to admit we're ever powerless and we're in denial about it because it feels maybe humbling or even embarrassing. And yet there's this truth of every single one of us, not because we're bad or anything else, but because we're human and our brains have been designed for pleasure, that there are points at which if we go to their to that place, to that part of our pattern, we become powerless to stop what's coming next. And it's actually acknowledging that that becomes a freeing place of recovery because now we know like there are places. I have to avoid ever getting there because once I'm there it's a part of my old pattern. And actually what seems scary at first is actually a really incredibly freeing part of the process to be willing to say there are points of powerlessness in my life and I need to own that rather than deny it.
