The famous escape artist Harry Houdini had an unexpected lesson during one of his escape attempts. He had claimed many times publicly that there was no jail cell from which he could not free himself. On one occasion, he was challenged to escape from the world’s best cell door lock. After a guard thoroughly searched for any keys, his wife kissed him before leaving. During the kiss, she passed a piece of wire he had used on other occasions to make a key while in confinement.

After being isolated in the cell, Harry used the wire to create a perfect key. He reached through the bars, and after many attempts, he could not get the lock to budge. He thought he had finally met his match. In the last few seconds of the time limit that was put upon him, he leaned against the cell door, and it opened. You see, the jailer had neglected to lock the door when Harry was placed in, hence he walked to freedom and no one, until recently, knew how he set himself free.

Now, you might think, what does this have to do with changing my outlook on life and how it relates to addiction recovery? At some point in our lives, we are all placed in an imaginary cell. During that time, behind our emotional bars, each of us could see no way out. For me, it was a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. I was guilty through the eyes of the seventeen witnesses and through my own. For all practical purposes, the cell door was closed and locked.

Out of desperation, I asked God for help. The asking was from my innermost being. “Please, God, help me.” Within a week, I leaned against what I thought was a locked door, and it opened. It opened when the judge sentenced me to a one-year sentence, suspended if I attended AA regularly and did not come before him for any reason. The door was unlocked all along, but until I realized the power within, the answer didn’t come.

In decades of continued sobriety, I’ve been involved in many situations that seemingly had no answer until I leaned against the door. Don’t let your mind keep you in prison when all you need to do is ask for help.