Coberfan...
I agree with you that maturity and success really have nothing to do with each other. In order to be successful one must simply never give up. If at first you don�t succeed, try, try again and I haven�t failed but found 10,000 ways that didn�t work (I think that was B. Franklin). The definition of success and the various levels differ as do the people who obtain success. My virtue of success may be considered failure to another.
I would like to address the fact that in my opinion the remarks by both Duffis and Joe to Rob were in fact right where they needed to be. I simply chose to ignore his post. Through this quit process we have been through hell and come out on the other side. I don�t believe the attitudes expressed here are that of being full of ones self or thinking we are more righteous than others. The voice of experience is what you see being expressed. The quit process will take you to levels in your mind and your life that you never thought possible. This is a continuing growth process and the farther in the quit we get, the more we learn not only about ourselves but about others as well.
Often newer quitters will think the older quitters believe themselves to be above others. I have also been accused of having such an attitude. That is not the case at all. We are all one puff away from being full blown addicts again. However, as we learn, grow, and mature in our quits, we gain knowledge that takes us to new levels.
You are 28 days into your quit and Rob is at 63 days. I anxiously await your attitudes when you are around 300 days and want to see what you do with the knowledge you have gained. Will you simply go away, or will you too pay it forward as Joe, Duffis and I have all done. Will you two also spend hours at the SSC reading posts and trying to come up with new ideas of ways to help people that are struggling with the addiction? Trust me when I say none of us are here to belittle anyone. We are simply here to share what we have learned so that others may beat the most horrible addiction that exists.
Is this a level of maturity? Well, I guess it is. We no longer say I can�t, I can�t or compare ourselves to others. We simply know that we will because failure is no longer an option.
