Wisdom Of The Rooms - 2021

[bluidkiti]

June 28

Quote of the Week

"Behaviors are like tennis rackets; if yours is broken, get a new one."

A woman at a meeting shared that behaviors are like tennis rackets. While a tennis racket works for a while—years, even—eventually the strings wear out, the grip comes apart, and after a while you have to get a new one. She said that for years she was using rackets of behavior long after they had stopped working. It was only after she “got a new racket” that her life improved.

When I was new to recovery, I had a lot of old, worn-out behaviors, too. What I didn’t realize was that the reason my life wasn’t working was that I kept trying to use these—isolating instead of joining in, being selfish instead of giving, and so on—to achieve different results. When I spoke with my sponsor about it, he told me that unless I worked the Steps and changed the way I thought and acted, the results in my life would stay the same.

Today, I’m much better at recognizing my old rackets of behaviors and thankfully, I’m more willing to try something different. Today, when areas of my life aren’t working, I know to look at my behavior, talk to someone in the program, and pray for guidance. Today, when my old behavior isn’t working, I’m quick to adopt a new one. I know that I can’t win in the game of life if I continue playing with an old racket.