The Rest of the Story

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The Rest of the Story

Over the years, I've heard one idea a few thousand times in meetings:
"When I came to the rooms of AA, I was told to come to meetings, sit down,
shut up, and listen. It worked for me and it will work for you. Just come
to meetings and everything will be fine."
I've been sober in AA long enough to tell you this: Going to meetings
is the easiest part of AA.
To become sober we need to do the same things athletes do: get a coach
(sponsor), do our stretching exercises (reach out and shake a stranger's
hand), start eating right and getting the proper amount of sleep (Why is it
most alcoholics think its okay to skip over the physical part of recovery?)
And perhaps, most important, we need to do our homework (read the
literature; do the Steps). Why do we alcoholics want to ignore, postpone,
or drag out this part? Not doing our AA homework is like paying thousands
of dollars to go to college and never taking any books home. Which
brilliant alcoholic among us could do that?
In the beginning of our recovery, we don't know what we're doing because
we don't know what to do. But the solution is simple: we need to allow new
data into our brains. Meetings are one way; reading the literature is
another. At the same time, we need to go through the Steps with our
sponsors so that new data about ourselves will truly enter our brains.

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