I am a member of 12 Step recovery. Many of us in the rooms talk about the “disease of more”. I am an addict and have experienced the “one is too many and two is never enough” in my food addiction. But that’s not the only place where my “disease of more” shows itself. It rears its ugly head in relationships, household chores and volunteer commitments.
As a first born, I have been striving for more most of my life. More knowledge, more success, more friends, more activities, more personal growth. I don’t think there is a problem with more of many of these things. Where I run into trouble is when my desire for more leads me to struggle to attain it and I lose sight of where I am right now and all I have. When it takes the place of living in the present, gratitude and contentment, I’m sunk.
This post is part of the Five Minute Friday community link-up where you write for five minutes on a one-word prompt. Today’s word was “more”.
Read my letter to addiction here
6 Comments
Thank you Andrew, I value your creativity and vulnerability in your poem. I am a recovered food addict and that is what I used to try to fill my God-shaped hole for a long time, never ever worked. But even today, 7 years in recovery, it’s something I have to work at every single day.
The God-Shaped-Hole inspired a poem. Lucky(?) you.
There was a hole inside me
which I thought that beer could fill.
Well, maybe that and rugby,
since it’s not legal to kill.
My inner hooligan took delight
in wrecking pubs and parlours
and never passed up a fight
with bobbies, toffs and farmers.
And then one day God caught me
while I dried out in gaol,
and gently firmly told me
that my life had been a fail.
Now I’m on an upward trend,
but lager’s still a bosom friend.
#1 at FMF this week.
https://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2019/03/your-dying-spouse-589-beautiful-people.html
You are so right Sara! No one is immune. I would love to see more people recognize this and support one another rather than judge each other. I write that for myself too, I need the reminder 😉
Absolutely Lesley! The God-shaped hole in all of us is only satisfied with God Himself!!
Visiting from FMF community…That last sentence packs a punch! The subtle “disease of more” plagues everyone of us. Thanks for sharing!
Visiting from FMF #9. It’s so easy to seek satisfaction in more of something, whether that’s food, money, success, or whatever else. I think often what we’re really seeking is more of God but we don’t always recognise that and it can be easy to put our hope in other things.