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Personal Bill Of Rights

adapted from "Guide To Recovery" by Herbert L. Gravitz and Julia D. Bowden

  1. I have a right to all those good times that I have longed for all these years and didn't get.
  2. I have a right to joy in this life, right here, right now.
  3. I have a right to relax and have fun in a nondestructive way.
  4. I have a right to actively pursue people, places, and situations that will help me in achieving a joyous life.
  5. I have the right to say no whenever I feel that I am not ready or when it doesn't feel right to me.
  6. I have a right to take calculated risks and to experiment with new strategies.
  7. I have a right to "mess up," to make mistakes, to "blow it," and to disappoint myself and fall short of the mark.
  8. I have a right to leave the company of people who deliberately or inadvertently put me down, lay a guilt trip on me, manipulate or humiliate me.
  9. I have a right to put an end to conversations with people who make me feel put down and humiliated.
  10. I have a right to all of my feelings.
  11. I have a right to trust my feelings, my judgement, my hunches, my intuition.
  12. I have a right to develop myself as a whole person, emotionally, spriritually, mentally, physically, and psychologically.
  13. I have a right to express all of my feelings in a nondestructive way and at a safe time and place.
  14. I have a right to as much time as I need to experiment with this new information and these new ideas and to initiate changes in my life.
  15. I have a right to be me.

I have a right to follow any of the above rights, to live my life the way I want to, and not wait until my parent or spouse or child or significant other gets well, gets happy, seeks help, or admits there is a problem.