Honesty with Newcomers

 I’ll be honest right now - I’ve had a less-than-sterling last few days, but all is well. My son had a close encounter with his own mortality, and came back stronger, wiser, and facing his own hard decisions. He’s equipped to do so, and he has my admiration for his internal as well as physical strength. I was able to be with him and witness his strength and maturity. 

I had my own misadventures with the digital age and old-person-travelling. If that’s not a recognized disorder, it should be. I probably shouldn’t leave home alone.

Speaking for me personally, the one who didn’t have to face her own mortality, I can say that the spiritual strength which I learned and practiced within my years in our program, kept me afloat. I would certainly have cried buckets in which to drown if I hadn’t learned a deeper, truer spirituality and oneness with The One. The One who “protects us from nothing, but sustains us in everything”.

I can’t take on my children’s tough realities, but I can offer my own experience, strength, and hope. I can’t rewrite the past to make it better today, but I can be better today. 

Dealing with “life on life’s terms”, as we learn, is an important lesson for newcomers to our program. Over the past couple of weeks, I never thought about having a drink. I didn’t want to automatically hide from reality. That is a gift of the program, one which can seem like an unbelievable result to those who have just stepped in the rooms. It would be disingenuous to try to express that after the drinking stops, every little thing is sunshine and roses, because life is simply not like that. But - I can cope, and cope pretty well most of the time. What a change!

The honest sharing of the spiritual aspect of AA recovery is important for the newcomers, and it is vital to my growth as a human be-ing.