Just want to write about a victory I had on Monday. Kind of reminded me of the youtube thing I mentioend in my last entry. During my previous rotation, I listened to a book on cd and managed to finish it quickly during the month because of all the driving I was doing. The book was "Unbroken," a story of survival about a WWII airman stranded in the Pacific ocean. I really loved it. It was entertaining and inspired me to come closer to God and be a better person.
I started a new rotation on Monday and had a new book by my favorite sports author, Rick Reilly. I just think he's hilariously brilliant. I've read 2 books of his that are compilations of his Sports Illustrated articles and greatly entertained and touched deeply by the inside messages his articles have occasionally.
I expected a similar theme with this book of his that I was going to listen to in the car this month, a golf book called "Shanks for Nothing." Unfortunately it was not! It wasn't a collection of his prior essays, but an actual fictional story written by him and he took the opportunity to push lines that he can't push in his articles with language and innuendos.
Anyway, after a few less-than-inspiring moments in the book, I managed to turn it off and just handed the book-on-cd back into the library today. I was grateful to God for the strength to do that, because He knows how much I love a good laugh and I know that book would have been hilarious and I really wanted to just listen anyway and think that the bad parts wouldn't affect me and that maybe it is just the beginning that is bad and the rest is fine and... well... those were the justifications I battled.
I struggled on knowing when to stop, because I'm not the kind of guy that'll shut something off at the first sign of bad language or bit of innuendo... and maybe I should, but I feel that's extreme. But I got to a point where I knew it was time to turn it off. Like inside I could feel it. So I was able to push the eject button and not listen anymore.
That was a little-big victory for me. And I'll take it. I'm realizing more and more how important the little-big victories of integrity are, particularly when no one else is around.
Great job. Often those innuendos are the hardest, because they are so easy to justify. "Unbroken" is awesome and inspiring though. Congratulations on turning it off and getting rid of it. I recently started watching a TV series, then had to stop, despite how interesting it was. It was just to triggering. Keep up the diligence.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. Aren't audio books the best? I've recently discovered how much better it is to commute with an audio book on. I've been loving some classics--Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Dracula are very compelling from an addiction recovery perspective. Also, I loved The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama.
ReplyDeleteI think a key was that you were in tune with yourself enough to know when that line had been crossed. I know I need to work on knowing myself and what I can take well enough to "feel it."
Thanks for the support guys - and thanks for the suggestions on the classics, Robert - I'll have to add them to my audio list.
ReplyDelete