The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
At first it was a little against everything I ever learned, to think of myself first. As a Christian, we are service oriented. Loving and serving others selflessly. However, as I thought about it more we are not promoting loving ourselves at the expense of others, but to better ourselves so we can be better examples to others and that good attitude is a positive example of others instead of our usual snapping, nagging, complaining and manipulating. The bible says to love others as YOURSELF. So, there. We are to love ourselves. :)
I hope the attachment shows up; from this view I am not sure.
It took the 12 steps for me to understand the difference between selfish and self-care. Sounds like you are making that same distinction. I admire how you weave your faith into it too. Even though we come from different backgrounds, it is good to see spiritual change and awakening and recovery working for you. Keep up the good work!
God, me, others. Hard lesson to learn and I still slip. Glad to see you've arrived where you heard the "as yourself" part. It took me almost a lifetime to hear that. I had the God part right. I had the other people right. I didn't have the me part right. Validating myself without invalidating others has been a fun lesson to learn.
