Addiction Recovery - Choking Out

Dear Friends,

I did some yard work yesterday with B.

Have you ever heard of morning glory?

"... an aggressive, invasive perennial plant found throughout the west... very different plants, one of the most noxious weeds."

Noxious weed:

"A weed which is considered to be harmful to the environment or animals, especially one which may be the subject of regulations governing attempts to control it... designated as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or livestock"

As we were doing yard work (weeding), we discovered SO MUCH morning glory.

These weeds wrap and wrap and wrap themselves around perfectly healthy plants and flowers until they literally choke the life out of them.

I came upon several plants that were dead while the morning glory weed that strangled it was alive and well.

As we pulled these weeds off of the plants and flowers, the plants immediately stood up taller.

They immediately relaxed their flowers.

They looked and acted alive again.

They could breathe.

They could pull in the water from the soil that fed their roots.

They could sun themselves!

I felt badly for my part in this.

I could have been weeding in the spring.

We could have put down special weed killer that would kill the stranglehold of these weeds, yet allow for the growth of the healthy plants.

How can we learn from these noxious weeds in our day-to-day lives?

When the morning glory begin to develop, they actually have really pretty white or purple flowers!

They don't appear to be killers!

They appear beautiful.

What's the harm in just letting it be for a minute?

What is so bad about letting them flower and work as "ground cover?"

So, we forget about them.

We think that everything is fine.

We'll deal with them when they are actually an issue.

Then, it's too late.

The plants are dead.

Take a few minutes and think about how this might relate to you in your personal life, in your personal active recovery...

I'll give you an example in my own life:

I have not been to the gym five days a week for three weeks.

I had an injury that made it impossible.

Then, I was tired.

It's fine to show myself grace and allow myself time to heal from my injury.

But, then we get complacent, don't we?

I get complacent.

I start to feel sluggish.

I begin to not sleep as well.

I begin to feel more stressed out.

All of these things start "popping up" because I'm not taking care of my vitals.

What is it in your life that you can be doing better?