Humility

What’s humility got to do with compulsive video gaming or getting our lives back on track? For a gaming addict, it has everything to do with addiction and recovery.

Humility can be described as honest perspective on oneself, something we’ve sorely lacked. Many of us relate to having the distorted views of egomania with low self esteem. “I didn’t think much of myself, but I was all I thought about.” “I was like a piece of crud around which the whole world revolved.” Our perspective was horribly skewed. We often felt like the worst of the worst while desperately wanting others to see us as the best of the best.

The reality is that we are normal human beings, with strengths and weaknesses, worthy of love, respect, joy, and friendship no matter how many mistakes we have made or how short of perfection we fall. In recovery we strive for self honesty, aligning our thinking with reality and doing our best to accept ourselves as we really are. While working the program as well as we can, we experience a deflation of self-centered obsession, a raising of self esteem, and a feeling of being right-sized, also known as humility.

Humility is not humiliation. We’ve had enough of shame, embarrassment, and self loathing. Obviously we don’t need to be cut down. We need to heal, to love and be loved, to accept and be accepted. As we grow in honesty and self-love, our selfish grabbing and grandiose desires fade. We become the people we were meant to be and learn to accept reality with humility.

Questions: How has my awareness of self-centered obsession and low self esteem changed over time? Have I made positive strides in humility in the forms of self esteem, selfless generosity, and honest acceptance of myself?