TRADITION ELEVEN

Nov 29, from “Strengthening My Recovery” daily reader

“How exciting it is when we get the first dose of recovery.  Issues that have plagued us for most of our lives can now be brought to an ACA meeting or discussed with a fellow traveler who knows how we feel and doesn’t judge us.

Recovery is so powerful that we want to rush out and persuade many of our friends and relatives to join in this wonderful new adventure, probably because we believe some of them could benefit from the program more than we can.  So some of us buy several ACA books to distribute to these people.  This is called two-stepping: jumping right from Step One to Step Twelve, trying to give away what we don’t even have yet.

But recovery requires patience.  We find that as we work the Steps, practice the principles, and live the program, others will notice a positive change in us.  They will be attracted by that change.

If their curiosity is piqued, they may ask about ACA.  Then it’s up to them to decide if they want to go to meeting and learn more.

On this day I will focus on my own recovery and respect that others have their own journey.  If at some point our journeys merge, it will be a wonderful thing.”

My experience:

Even with a small amount of recovery, we now recognize in those around us who too may have some dysfunction in their background.  We so much want to share and drag you to a meeting and force feed you literature. But that is not how this program works. We display the changes happening in us on a daily basis.  Some of you are curious, others are scared.  Scared of the process, scared to deal with the issues from the past that you believe you have “gotten over,” scared to let others know your childhood trauma and resultant flaws.  But if you have a friend in recovery, and some of you reading this know you do, please understand that we know.  And I, for one, will wait for however long it takes for you to reach out to me for help. I will be here forever if need be, but always know, I will be here with open arms and no judgement.