FALLING INTO A MANHOLE. PT. 2

As a counselor I often tell the story of the woman who was walking down the sidewalk of her hometown, and suddenly she falls into an open manhole. Well, of course this would be bad enough, but if that same woman walked down the same sidewalk and fell into that same open manhole thirty more times over the next thirty days, you might say something like,

“Houston, we have a problem.”

 

Narcotics Anonymous has an adage which goes something like,

“Insanity = Doing the same thing that never worked anyway, again and again, and expecting a different result.”

I confess. I’ve met hundreds of people like this; clients and otherwise.

I mean, there are those who walk among us who continue to fall into that same figurative manhole again and again, and wonder 

“what the hell is going on.”

We can all ‘mess up’ once, but personal repentance (forget the kind between two people) is making a vow to one’s self to avoid making the same bad choice more than once. I mean, isn’t it bad enough to make new and different bad choices on a chronic basis? (And perhaps we’re all been guilty of this behavior at one time or another). 

But I think this sort of thing is most noticeable when it comes to pervasive habits, or at the very least, compulsions.

Drinking and driving and causing needless mayhem and destruction. Involvement with someone outside one’s marriage. Enabling a spouse, son, or daughter to avoid responsibility; monetary or otherwise. Speculating in the same types of shady investments on a consistent basis. Buying into the same worn out apologies from someone who regularly beats upon one’s head and shoulders. Settling for mediocre instead of pursuing the plans God has instilled in your heart.

And the list goes on

As scripture assures us,

“There things ought not to be.”

At this writing, I have little space or energy to pursue the ‘how to’s’ (and I have the convenience of leaving that for another blog). But suffice it to say change only becomes possible when the efforts associated with are deemed more viable than remaining in the status quo. Beyond this, it has been proven that change begins with an irrevocable decision to, well,

…change.

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 47. Copyright pending

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