Dear all, I am going to take my time in relation to the steps and finding a sponsor. I discussed same with fellow member after meeting. At the moment, I'm just trying to get my head around everything, avoiding the playground and to actually take it one day at a time, when it goes too fast for me, I recourse to drink and I cannot do that anymore. I am grateful for the meetings and am glad that I understand what others are going through sometimes, and will take what I need for my journey and leave the rest, I really need to just stand still and take stock of everything. I had a rough time this evening fighting temptation and find that the crazy thinking creeps up on me really quickly. I truly prayed for it to pass and to take this one day, one hour, one minute and one second if I have to.
You have the rest of your life to do the steps. I think doing step 1 is all you really need to focus on and trying to grasp 2 and 3 as much as you can...The sponsor is there at first to hold you accountable to going to meetings and to guide you through what they did to help make AA work for them in the beginning. It's good practice to start calling sober alcoholics and letting them know how you are doing. Having a sponsor makes you start doing that with at least 1 person. If you can make supports and call them from AA, the sponsor could wait a bit, but just for me...I needed it ASAP.
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
Sounds like you have a good start. Taking it slow is a good approach. I still take it slow. My diesase sometimes wants everything yesterday and like to race around in my head. That's were talking to another alcoholic helps.
I would agree with Pinkchip, the steps and sponsor can wait a bit, but I would highly recommend getting phone numbers from the same sex members that you look up to and start calling them and lettting them know what's going on in your head. For me, I couldn't get sober or stay sober on my own. I needed the Fellowship and a sponsor etc.........
Yes, was talking to an Old timer after the meeting today and am so sorry that I did not ask her for her number as I could really relate to many of the things we were chatting about. She has 31 years of sobriety but is so full of humility it is awesome and did not make me feel in any way inadquate. I do feel like that sometimes with some, though I know people mean well. I will ask her tomorrow for her number as it did me a lot of good to speak with her today and felt that she truly cared about my sobriety.
Happy you found that woman, and had some good dialogue, and you said that you felt she truly cared about your Sobriety, I would not doubt that for a second.
And as far as taking it slowly, as in EASY DOES IT! Good for you.
As Pink said this is a lifetime process, and doing the steps too fast, Never worked for me, too many times, I wanted to rush the Process, and I would go, l, 2, 3, 4???? back to Step l. Had this little rythum to it, l, 2, 3, drink, 1,2,3, drink, the 4th Step, it was in many ways to me anyway, very difficult as well as the most necessary to get right, and in the Fifth step, removing from most of us the old Toxic stuff that had kept us down and Out for so long so when I used your method of taking it easy, then avoided all the big red flags to me, I had to learn by my own mistakes the hard way.
Only after adopting what you are now calling "taking my time", made sense.
Hugs and welcome, happy you are here with us.
PS. In your original Post, you talked about having some difficult moments, and that is why having those phone numbers, and USING that 100 lb. telephone is for. Any other Recovering alcoholic can talk you right through that process, in my opinion, faster and safer that you doing that struggling on your own, in the beginning, before you find that Sponsor..
toodles, Toni
-- Edited by toni baloney on Wednesday 29th of July 2009 06:39:50 PM
