How a Twelve Step Campus Indirectly Affected My Way of Thinking

While going to college I have seen first hand how a 12 step campus can benefit someone. While not an alcoholic myself, I have addicts in my family, and my group of friends. One of my closest friends began attending a anonymous groupon campus ninety days ago and the results have been extraordinary. She has taken that courageous first step of admission, and surrendered her pride to a higher power and a group of supporters. This has enabled her to stay in control one day at a time. The anonymous group for students she is a member of makes her feel able to stand tall in difficult situations where her addiction could normally get the better of her. Within three months she has improved her positive energy, her healthy habits 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 ways in which she grew that day. She calls her sponsor at seven a.m. every morning before class to commit her plan for the day. The amount of dedication she has to this 12 step program is admirable and makes me wonder what I’m missing out on. I claim no dangerous habits of my own, but is that the truth?

Her newfound pattern of life has brought me to question my own habits 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 on my campus for just about everything! From online gaming to workaholics! 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 anger management may do me some good, or procrastinators anonymous. If there is a twelve step program for manic depressiveness, that would certainly be my group. But I’m curious to know 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 lay down and die, and then next week we decide to throw a party with a banner that says, “WooHoo!!!” I don’t know. There are certainly things that I can improve on, and maybe I need some sort of intervention to find out what needs the most attention. I suppose that if it’s a big enough problem, it will find me. But until then I continue to be inspired from watching this brave college student better 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 positive 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 feed off 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 a twelve step campus 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.