William

Learning to make changes in how he deals with difficult situations


A former attendee of our class came back for one session. The Facilitator offered William an opportunity to speak first to see if he had joined the group for a specific issue that he wanted to discuss. William replied that he was there just to listen and there were no issues. William participated in the group’s discussions and requested time near the end of class to read a story. 

William’s story was about a blind man who was given a service dog. The man did not want the dog and the dog sensing this was also not adjusting well. After a few days the man decided to give the dog a chance. He found a whole world open up to him as he could now navigate to new places with the dog’s help. The owner was no longer stuck in a chair in the house but had freedom to explore the world again. Then William asked the group, what changed? The man did and if he had not changed and taken advantage of the opportunities he would have missed a much fuller life than what he had previously.  

William then commented that he had taken the class twice, went to jail and then was locked up for several months. The last time he took the class he realized that the problem with his life was him and he was going to change. The first change was fully participating in the class and then making changes in how he dealt with difficult situations. 

He is still learning and growing and if the men want their life to change they will need to stop blaming everyone else and start looking within and begin making some changes.