While going to college I have seen first hand how a 12 step campus can benefit a person. I myself am not an addict to drugs or alcohol, but I do have family and friends who fall into those categories. One best friends began attending a 12 step programon campus three months ago and the results have been extraordinary. She has taken that brave first step of admission, and surrendered her decisions to a higher power and a group of supporters. By doing so, she is able to stay in control one day at a time. The anonymous group for students she is a member of gives her the courage to stand tall in tough situations where her addiction could normally get the better of her. Within ninety days she has rebuilt her positive energy, her healthy habits and most of all, her happiness. She writes in her book every night after doing her homework and before going to sleep, about the journey she accomplished that day. Every morning before class she calls her sponsor to talk about her plan for the day. The amount of resolve she has to this twelve step program is admirable and makes me question what I’m missing out on. I claim no addiction of my own, but is that entirely accurate?
Her newfound way of life brings me to question my own choices while living on campus. I started to think that there may be an area or two in my life that could use some maintenance. I decided to do some research. What I found quite shocked me. There is literally a twelve step program at my school for almost 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 still don’t know which aspect of myself I’d like to attend to the most I think sometimes anger management may do me some good, or procrastinators anonymous. If there is a program on campus for manic depressiveness, that would certainly be my group. It makes me wonder though, if all of these manic depressives gather three times a week in the same place, would their cycles align? I can see it now. One month 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, “Nothing Can Stop Us!!!!” 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 the problem is big enough, it will find me. But until then I continue to draw inspiration from watching this brave college student change her life one day at a time.
But as well as making me question my own issues, her new ways have affected me in the same beneficial manner as they have her. Because she is not only my friend, but my soon to be fiancé, and my roommate, 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 do anything that contradicts her program’s creed. All said and done, I have an enormous respect for my campus for providing 12 step programs 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.
