From Flight to Foundation

From Flight to Foundation

Understanding the shift from survival to stability

Personal reflections from a fellow traveler, not AA approved literature.  Shared in the spirit of Experience, Strength, and Hope.

Stability can often be elusive for someone who has spent their entire life surviving.  Emotional neglect, abuse, chaos and uncertainty can leave a person navigating their days in a constant state of self-preservation designed to illicit comfortable outcomes through control.

Safety, peace, and security are what is desired; yet insecurity, fear, and repeated failures become the template.  Not all failures are final; not all pain proves peace has perished.

In these seasons of pain and anguish we are left standing at a fork in the road where old habits and familiar behaviors scream the loudest.  It’s here where the shift to stability can take root if we allow ourselves to escape the patterns of our past.

It won’t be easy.  It is here where comfort and correction collide.

Gold is refined by fire.  The impurities must be burned off, and they don’t go easily.  A crucible is used as a tool in the refining process.  The literal meaning for crucible is “Heat resistant vessel”.  The figurative meaning of crucible can be “A severe test or trial” or a “transformative situation.” 

Figuratively, the impurities within us must be exposed to heat or great discomfort to be burned off.  When the heat is turned up, often we seek escape through ingrained behavioral patterns and an unwillingness to endure.

Stability starts where Survival sleeps.

Where in my life can I shift from survival to stability?