Hi again Julie,

You can always try it for a period of time and decide whether you like it. When I started step 6, I decided to give it 6 months and if it wasn't working the way I wanted, I could go back to eating sugar. Every day I choose not to.

There's no real finishing point. You can always choose what you want to do. But your energy will change as you go through the steps. You may not be the same person who has that feeling of emptiness after reaching a goal. It may not be "you." I always thought I had a temper because I was a redhead and that's who I was. I thought the dark voice in my head was me talking or something I'd have to live with and ignore. But those were biochemical responses to imbalance.

This program is full of wonderful surprises. Please keep going and see how you like it.

JoEllen

: I appreciate all the responses and
: different perspectives on this
: question. Thank you, everyone!

: Reading your replies and reflecting
: on all your experiences over the
: past several days has got me to
: think of my own pattern and
: personality. I guess that's why
: this question had been nagging at
: me. I am the kind of person who
: goes into things 110%, completely
: committed. I accomplish my goals,
: feel good about myself, and then
: there's this let-down where I
: don't know what to do with myself.
: Instead of just enjoying the
: accomplishment, I tend to start on
: a dark path spiraling down into
: depression. Which, of course,
: makes no sense. (For example, from
: the first day of Kindergarten, I
: decided I wanted to be a teacher.
: I went straight through school
: with that goal. I came from a
: poor, single parent family and had
: to put myself through college. I
: got my first teaching job at 23.
: And my first serious depression.
: And as soon as I started crawling
: out of the depression, or perhaps
: in order to get myself moving out
: of it, I started working on a new
: goal. I went back to school for my
: master's degree.) I guess my
: enthusiasm for the program scares
: me because I know, deep down, that
: I need this. I don't want to
: accomplish it and then
: un-accomplish it (lol).This
: program is for me. I am sugar
: sensitive, and nothing else has
: ever worked for me. I know this is
: my only hope. So I have a deep
: fear of reaching the end and
: turning right back around and
: returning to the dark place of
: addiction and misery. It's not
: guilt and shame--it's the
: emotional roller coaster I loathe.
: And for me leaving the program
: wouldn't be to try something new.
: It would be a response to not
: knowing how to deal with the
: let-down of accomplishing this
: goal. I don't know if this makes
: any sense.

: But in any case, I sense that this is
: different because it's not a
: personality thing; it's a brain
: chemistry thing. It boggles my
: mind that it can be healed. I
: sense that I'm so messed up I
: don't even know where to begin in
: understanding it all.

: So I guess I'll just focus on doing
: the food, lol.

: Julie