While going to college I have seen first hand how a 12 step campus can benefit someone. I myself am not an addict to food, booze or drugs but I do have family and friends who fall into those categories. One very close friend of mine joined a anonymous groupon 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. By doing so, she is able to curb her addiction one day at a time. The anonymous group for students she is a member of allows her to stand tall in difficult situations where her addiction could normally get the better of her. Within three months she has increased her positive energy, her healthy habits and most of all, her happiness. She writes in her journal every night 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 commit her plan for the day. The amount of resolve she has to this 12 step program is admirable and makes me think about what I’m missing out on. I claim no addiction of my own, but is that the truth?
Her newfound pattern of life has brought me to question my own decisions while living on campus. I started to think that there may be an habit or two in my life that could use some support I decided to do some research. What I found quite shocked me. There is literally a anonymous group 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 campus administration and arranged. I’m still not sure which of my undesirable qualities 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 12 step program for manic depressiveness, that would certainly be my place to be. But I’m curious to know if all of these manic depressives gather twelve times a month in the same place, would their cycles align? I can see it now. One day 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, “WooHoo!!!” I don’t know. There are certainly things that I can change, and maybe I need some sort of intervention to find out what my main problem is. I suppose that if the problem is big enough, it will find me. But until then I continue to draw inspiration from watching my best friend better her life one day at a time.
But as well as making me question my own habits, her new ways have influenced 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 feed off each other’s habits. In this case, because her lifestyle has changed for the positive and I am entirely supportive, I no longer drink as much. All said and done, I have an enormous respect for my school for providing anonymous groups for students to help people gain control over the things they do not have the strength to overcome alone. I have seen first hand the positive changes that are possible as a result.
