Sharing and Caring - ESH

[MajestyJo]

I like that the principles are all the same no matter what fellowship you belong to. For me, the common denominator are the 12 Steps, which for me are the tools of recovery and common to all fellowship. They may change a few words here and there, yet it still asks us for the same thing.

When I think recovery, I think AA. It was AA that I went to twice a day for two years. It was AA that I went to and immersed myself in, 24 hours a day because I was told it was a 24 hour a day program, not a 2-4 hour a day program.

I had to look at all areas of who I was. An adult child of an alcoholic and a mother who was a food addict. The ex-wife on an alcoholic. The mother of a still practicing, self-admitted addict and alcoholic. I was sponsor to 5 women, two who died from their disease, what one is still using, another who is in and out of recovery and when she is clean, will often call me and I run into her at the mall, and another one who I suggested that she get another sponsor. I told her I couldn't be a sponsor if she didn't want to work an AA program. We still connect in today either by phone or by e-mail.

As I have said many times, "I went to AA for my denial." I always knew I was an addict.

It was important to know that alcohol was not my only problem. It was even more important to know that the drug wasn't the problem, the problem was me. The substance is but a symptom of my disease.

Alcoholism affects so many people. It is a shame that more people are not filling the rooms of recovery. It seems like they can't get past the blaming of the alcoholic and not being able to recognize their own problems. As I heard earlier today, "It is rooted in the self!" Quit looking outward and start looking inward.