While going to college I have seen first hand how a 12 step campus can help a person. While not an addict myself, I have alcoholics in my family, and my group of friends. One of my closest friends joined a twelve step programon campus 90 days ago and the results have been phenomenal. She has made a commitment to herself, and surrendered her pride to a higher power alongside a group of supporters. By doing so, she is able to curb her addiction one day at a time. The anonymous group for students she is a member of gives her the courage to stand tall in difficult situations where her addiction could normally get the better of her. Within three months she has rebuilt her metabolism, her energy level, her exercise pattern, and most of all, her enjoyment of life. She writes in her journal every evening after doing her homework and before going to sleep, about the challenges she overcame that day. Every morning before class she calls her sponsor to commit her plan for the day. The amount of commitment she has to this 12 step program is admirable and makes me wonder what I’m missing out on. I claim no addiction of my own, but is that entirely accurate?
Her newfound pattern of life has brought me to question my own choices while living on campus. I wonder if I could be happier, healthier, more mentally and physically fit if I figured out what my vices were and found a progam on campus of my own. I decided to do some research. What I found surprised There is literally a anonymous group at my school for just about everything! From cluttering to overeating! And if there isn’t one, then surely it could be brought up with the student counsel and arranged. I have yet to figure out which program would be right for me. I think sometimes it may be an anger management program, or procrastinators anonymous. If there is a program on campus for manic depressiveness, that would certainly be my place to be. But I’m curious to know if all of these manic depressives gather every week in the same place, would their cycles align? I can see it now. One week everyone in the room is ready to just frown and pass out, and then next week we decide to throw a party with a banner that says, “Life is Grand!!!” I don’t know. There are certainly things that I can change, and maybe I need some sort of intervention to find out what my main problem is. I suppose that if it’s a big enough problem, it will find me. But until then I continue to learn from from watching my best friend improve her life one day at a time.
But as well as making me question my own vices, her new ways have affected me in the same constructive manner as they have her. Because she is not only my friend, but my soon to be fiancé, and we happen to live together, her lifestyle has a profound effect on my own and we tend to mimic each other’s habits. In this case, because her lifestyle has changed for the positive and I am entirely supportive, I no longer eat as much. All said and done, I have an enormous respect for my campus for providing anonymous groups for students to help people gain control over the things they do not have the strength to overcome alone. I have seen first hand the light that can shine as a result.
