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I have had a few doctor’s appointments recently, and at each one, I was given a series of things I was supposed to do afterward. And each time… I did what they said. If that sounds ho hum and obvious, well, I guess it should be. But following doctor’s orders? Obeying rules? Driving the speed limit? Listening to feedback? Hahahahahaha.
As a proud alcoholic and drug addict, I have always been someone who is told not to do something… and I immediately do it. Tell me I need to do something, forget about it, I’m not doing it, nobody tells me what to do. My wife once told me that she asked me to specifically not do something knowing that I would push back and do it, which is what she actually wanted. Reverse psychology appears to work on a stubborn alcoholic such as myself!
I still feel the urge many days to break some rules and do some s**t I shouldn’t be doing. But boy, it’s more often a whole new world of being open-minded in my life now, and I am so grateful for that. Those recent visits to the doctor that I described earlier are a good example of that.
It popped up recently when I got Invisalign for my teeth. My doctor said I should wear the plastic trays 22 hours a day, and that’s what I did. And over the course of two years, I did it every single day. When I went in for followup appointments, my doctor always shook his head and seemed surprised. He was almost baffled by the success of his own treatment plan. I asked him about that, and he said that I wouldn’t believe the number of people who come in wanting to get their teeth fixed, pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for Invisalign, then don’t wear the plastic trays. Then they are stunned when their teeth are exactly the same as when they started the process.
I also had a shoulder injury recently, and I had to go to physical therapy. I think this is probably my 10th time in physical therapy for various injuries and surgeries over the years, and this is the first time I have ever been given a plan and actually done the plan.
Shocking news: It worked. I went from thinking I might have a torn rotator cuff, to getting it checked out and finding it’s not a torn rotator cuff, to getting a PT specialist to work me out and set me up for home workouts, to doing the workouts and having a remarkable one-month recovery. My shoulder isn’t quite 100 percent, but it’s close. Every time I go in for PT, the guy can’t believe the progress that we’ve made. He said most people go to PT just to say they did, that they don’t want to do any of the crap he suggests, and so it’s nice to see somebody actually get on the healing path and follow it.
It’s a good reminder about as awesome as recovery is, it can only take you so far on some things. I need to do the spiritual work to make myself as honest, open-minded and willing in all walks of life, then rely on my higher power for some stuff, and experts on the other stuff. Recovery can help you get in the right mindset, but if you need your teeth to be fixed or to win a court case, you gotta take all that honesty, open-mindedness and willingness to a dentist or a lawyer.
Above all else, I’m so happy to be even 10 percent less stubborn. Life is so much easier when you don’t try to fight everything, even the little stuff. Going forward, if somebody tells me to do something, I’m always just going to do it, no questions asked.
Okay, that’s ridiculous and never going to happen. But I’ll try!
This newsletter is a place of joy and laughter about the deadly serious business of sobriety. So, as I will often do, let me close with a joke:
Son: "Pop, what's an alcoholic?"
Father: "A man who tries to pull himself out of trouble with a corkscrew."
(Credit: AA Grapevine, February 1947)
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