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The Fellowship of the program is a big part of recovery. One alcoholic sharing with another. Learning to laugh and communicate and allows us to get out of the isolation of our disease.
I remember going to our Autumn Leaf Roundup and being a greeter at the door with a fellow member and he said, "Standing here greeting and meeting others in the fellowhip gives me a natural high and I get just as much out of it as listening to speakers."
It is a big part of the program yet the real stuff is in the Steps. It is my belief that you can't stay sober on the Fellowship alone. I need the to feed the body, mind and spirit and meetings and sharing with others help but it is the Steps that help me to change, to grow, and let go of the past to make room for a better tomorrow.
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Was introduced to NA literature in treatment and fell in love with it. I could so identify and I went to meetings once or twice a week. I went to Al-Anon one or two days during the day time. I went to AA because of my denial. NA says, "Alcohol is a drug." I finally came to an understanding, the light went off and it sunk in, "I used alcohol like I used everything else."
I was active in service at both fellowships, I quit AA and went to NA to do service. Went back to AA, and then went to Al-Anon, it was what I needed because I have a son in active addiction.
It doesn't matter what label I wear, I can't drink or drug today. Whether my choice is food, other people, computer, scratch tickets, etc. Some may feel like fun and okay because they aren't my drug of choice, but it all leads to the same soul sickness.
One member who was a monitor of an AA group was 6'6 and 200 plus bounds, and he said, "He hated it when people would come up and ask him to do things." I said, "You mean like this, I took his arm and said, 'Can I borrow your muscles?" You should have seen the look I got, even though he knew I was doing it in fun.
This was the same man who heard me call myself stupid. He said, "You may be a lot of things Jo, but stupid isn't one of them."
Just for today, I can't use. Doesn't matter what form it takes, if it is an obsessive/compulsive disorder, it bleeds my soul, and I again become empty and looking for something outside of myself to make me feel better.
