Victimhood - A Dead End To Recovery
going to meetings and discovering others who have experienced the same thing. At first, I didn't want to go to meetings, I thought AA'ers were just a bunch of "God" freaks, and who needed 'em. I wouldn't be caught dead with a bunch of Bible thumpin' , Jesus freaks. Now this is me talking at that time. This is how I viewed the situation with my warped coper. I figured that only religious freaks and misfits haunted the halls of AA.
Well, it's true, they do. On the other hand, so do the ordinary, agnostic people too. You just have to find them. There are lots of them. They just tend to stay to themselves, because they are there for the program, and they have learned to put principles before personalities.
There are even more individuals who have simply worked the steps, made changes in their thinking and continue to use the steps and the principals of the Program, but no longer go to meetings. In my opinion, it isn't always necessary to continue going to meetings for the rest of your life in order to remain sober, or clean, or functional. What you must do for the rest of your life is to continue the search for a greater Spiritual Awakening, to reach out to other alcoholics, addicts, co-dependants, over eaters, etc., sharing the message of the twelve steps, and to practice the principles of the program in all your affairs. That's the only way it works.
It's not the meetings that get you sober, it's the work. It's not how the meetings are conducted, or how many times you can sit through the same stories that gets you sober, it's recognizing that with some people it actually works! If you seek them out, and they will tell you what it was like for them, what they did, and what it's like now. They will accept you, just as you are, and share with you their experience, strength and hope. They are the ones who will help you to find a viable path to recovery because they are the ones who are actually doing their steps.
The steps are not about a religion, although some people would like to think they are. The people who are stuck in religion will still get what they need if they follow the program and do the steps, and many will even stay sober. But, that's their job, not mine. It is not up to me to take their inventory or to judge whether they are doing it right or not. I
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