The Purpose (For Others, Not Ourselves)

For alcoholics and addicts in their disease, “purpose” is replaced by the driving power of alcoholism and addiction. We don’t need much purpose, nor could we find any beyond what our disease dictates we must do. But purpose may not ever be a thing we think about very much, whether we struggle with addiction or not. Then there are some who long and search for meaning and purpose in their lives. Yet many simply search for the sake of searching, never settling on an answer to the question of purpose. When we alcoholics and addicts finally, gratefully, arrive in the rooms of recovery, we may be a little surprised when we learn that the 12-Step program of recovery gives clear purpose to our lives. Perhaps we never gave the purpose question much thought, or we thought it was unanswerable. When we finally hear our primary purpose, a mix of emotions…