In most team sports there’s allowances made in the rules to take a time out. In baseball, the batter can raise his hand to the umpire and say time out. In basketball there’s a number of time outs that a team or a coach can call.
The reason for time outs is to allow the players to catch a breather and get themselves reorganized. A hitter in baseball often has to do this, if a pitcher is outfoxing him. He’ll step back and try to throw the pitcher’s rythym off or to figure out what he’s doing. The same in basketball. Games get going so fast that a team has to stop, if they forget what they’re supposed to be doing.
We all need to stop on occassions and take time out. Too often I find that I forget what I’m supposed to be doing and the next thing I’m caught up in everyone else’s stuff. When that happens, I can find myself slipping back into old patterns. I can make myself believe that I’m accomplishing a lot, when in fact I often find afterwards that I was just spinning my wheels and exhausting myself.
In the program we’re often told to start our day over. Take time to ourselves. It can be just a moment, depending on where we are, to drop back within and renew our concious contact with God, asking only what His will for us is, and asking for the strength, the courage, and the power to do His will, not mine. I can often take a moment to call someone. That’s a prayer, too. I may not get through, but just the act is often enough.
What it says in the Second Step is applicable on a daily basis. How often I need to be restored to sanity. To catch a moment and change my attitude. It makes all the difference; my atttitude. When I have a new attitude the whole world changes right before my eyes. Everything is the same and nothing is the same.
How overwhelming the world can become, when I wander too far afield. This is particualry true in my thinking. I can get exposed to what all the world is doing and find the weight of it is pressing me down. I need to pull back and remember who and what I am. I’m one person. There used to be a saying in the program; go into the corner and count yourself. If you come up with more than one you’re in trouble.
I have to remember I’m an alcoholic. That’s my main problem and it’s also my solution. If I can remember that the most important thing I do in any day is to take care of my little corner of the world. I’m no longer that grandiose guy, stepping up to the bar and saying buy a drink for everyone in the house. I’m no longer the center of attention. Or I shouldn’t be.
Taking time out and practicing humility by asking for help will change my whole day and my outlook. I can once again practice the “we” and not the “me”.
I was talking and thinking about this today. Time out.