By Pat C.
In life, the only thing that is guaranteed is change. Whether it is a person’s physical appearance or their outlook on life, human beings are constantly changing.
At the Family Foundation School students are sent to the school because their lives took a “turn for the worst” and their parents decided that a significant change was necessary if the student was going to live a healthy life.
When I was sent to The Family School my life was a mess; getting arrested, going to jail, relying on drugs to function, and treating my family horribly were events and characteristics that made up the lifestyle I was living one year ago.
After a short two-month wilderness experience I arrived at FFS willing to do whatever it took to change.
FFS offered me, as well as every other student, the opportunity to work a program known as the 12 Steps. Through helping me develop a spiritual life and accepting the fact that I am not the best at everything I do, the 12 Steps have shown me what type of person I really am.
I have to say that I am not completely changed or “healed” but I am okay with admitting that I am a person in recovery and I know that internal changes are occurring every day.
When students arrive at FFS they are upset, to say the least, when they realize they can no longer do whatever they want. For many, this change of environment is the most devastating thing to ever happen to them. But I am going to question that. Is your parents sending you to a place where you can get your life back on track a bad thing? I mean, yeah, it stinks that we can’t have cell phones and listen to the music we like, but is the loss of these material things something to be devastated about? We need to grow up and realize the opportunity we have been given at the school. Instead of being caught up in the loss of material things, let’s embrace the opportunity to change and do something different with our lives. Relapse is always going to be there for us, but recovery may not be.
Change does not only occur on an internal level though. Throughout the day, situations are constantly changing–for the better and sometimes for the worse. FFS and the 12 Steps teach us how to accept and deal with these changes.
A few weeks ago I was working in journalism class thinking that I was going to be the intern for the paper next semester. Later in the period, I went up to the Information Technology (IT) department to do some work for the paper, when I was asked by Shari Carroll how I felt about being the IT intern next semester. I replied by saying, “I am open to it, but to be completely honest I know nothing about computers.” Shari said, “That’s okay, we can work with that.” When I left the IT office and headed back to journalism, I thought to myself, Where did the idea of me becoming the IT intern come from? I know nothing about computers!
After praying about the situation and realizing that I should be grateful for whatever God puts in my life, I was okay with working at a job I knew nothing about.
The point of that story is that change is constant. The important thing is how we deal with it. Instead of looking at the negative aspects, we need to have faith that no matter what, everything will be alright.
Today I am the intern for the IT department and co-editor of The Family Times. I am extremely thankful for both of these opportunities God has placed in my life and I am looking forward to writing a monthly column and covering the natural gas drilling stories for the paper (in between my I.T. duties)!
