“Crystal Meth is not the problem, I’m the problem!”
—Heard in meetings.
We all know crystal meth is a powerful drug—when we met Tina, a lot of us were hooked at once. We were no match for it. Everything seemed fine “B.C.” (before crystal) and it all fell apart “A.C.” (after crystal). If only we hadn’t picked up that first time!
But was everything really fine? Meth didn’t come knocking on our door and say “Use me”—we invited it in. If life was so great, what made us put a highly potent and damaging substance in our body? It’s easy to demonize meth, but it’s an inanimate substance. Drugs have no power over us that we don’t give them.
After achieving some clean time and delving into the Steps, we come to realize that crystal meth wasn’t our only enemy. Our real challenges—character defects, fears, feelings of guilt and shame—existed way before we picked up drugs. In recovery, we have the opportunity to face all of our problems and get better. We don’t have to blame anybody or anything—even crystal!—for our difficulties.
Affirmation: Today I choose to live in the solution and not the problem. I can’t fix crystal meth—but I can work on me.