New Horizons Opening

I've been avoiding Step Four for months. I know what it means – looking at everything I've done wrong every way I've failed every character defect I have. I've spent my whole life feeling like I wasn't good enough. Why would I want to make a formal inventory of all my inadequacies? It feels like it would destroy what little self-worth I have left.

But the door is now open to new horizons of growth and a spiritual awakening we have never before experienced. This promise changes how I think about Step Four. It's not about destroying myself with criticism. It's about opening a door to growth I couldn't access before. It's about spiritual awakening not spiritual demolition.

The new horizons appear because of the honesty not in spite of it. When I stop pretending and start examining I can finally see where I actually am. And from where I actually am I can begin to grow. But if I'm pretending to be somewhere I'm not the growth can't happen.

Step Four opens the door by helping me be ruthlessly honest about where I stand today. Not where I wish I stood or where I think I should stand. Where I actually stand. And from that honest ground new horizons become visible. Growth becomes possible. Spiritual awakening begins.

If fear is keeping me from Step Four, I can remember this isn't about tearing myself down – it's about opening a door to growth I've never experienced before. I can read one page from the Step Four chapter in Paths to Recovery, just to shift my perspective from dread to possibility.