“In recovery, we stop enduring life and begin to live it…. We forego worrying and denial, and learn constructive problem solving skills…. We learn to value what we want and need; we stop punishing ourselves for other people’s problems, nonsense and insanity. We stop expecting ourselves to be perfect, and we stop expecting perfection of others…. We stop getting tangled up in craziness…. We stop compulsively taking care of other people and we take care of ourselves. We learn to be good to ourselves, to have fun, and to enjoy life. We learn to feel good about what we’ve accomplished. We stop focusing on what’s wrong and we notice what’s right.”
— Melody Beattie, Beyond Codependency: And Getting Better All the Time, p. 13.