POWER:

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There is one feeling we need to pay particular attention to in
recovery: feeling victimized. We do not need to become comfortable
with that feeling.

How do we feel when we’ve been victimized? Helpless. Rageful.
Powerless. Frustrated.

Feeling victimized is dangerous. Often, it can prompt us into
addictive or other compulsive behaviors.

In recovery, we’re learning to identify when we’re feeling
victimized, when we are actually being victimized. And why we’re
feeling victimized. We’re learning to own our power, to take care of
ourselves, and to remove ourselves as victims.

Sometimes, owning our power means we realize we are victimizing
ourselves – and others are not doing anything to hurt us. They are
living their lives, as they have a right to, and we are feeling victimized
because we’re unreasonably expecting them to take care of us. We
may feel victimized if we get stuck in a codependent belief, such as,
Other people make me feel … Others hold the key to my happiness
and destiny … or, I can’t be happy unless another behaves in a
particular way, or a certain event takes place.

Other times, owning our power means we realize that we are being
victimized by another’s behavior. Our boundaries are being invaded.
In that case, we figure out what we need to do to take care of
ourselves to stop the victimization; we need to set boundaries.

Sometimes, a change of attitude is all that’s required. We are not
victims.

We strive to have compassion for the person who victimized us, but
understand that compassion often comes later, after we’ve removed
ourselves as victims in body, mind, and spirit. We also understand
that too much compassion can put us right back into the victim slot.
Too much pity for a person who is victimizing us may set up a
situation where the person can victimize us again.

We try not to force consequences or crises upon another person, but
we also do not rescue that person from logical consequences of his or
her behavior. If there is a part that is our responsibility to play in
delivering those consequences we do our part – not to control or
punish, but to be responsible for ourselves and to others.

We try to figure out what we may be doing that is causing us to feel
victimized, or what part we are playing in the system, and we stop
doing that too. We are powerless over others and their behavior, but
we can own our power to remove ourselves as victims.

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