I never thought that going into Jail & Mental Ward would give so much Peace
I remember wen i was 6 months sober & i hung out with a bunch of old timers and they come & pick me up, we are going to a out of town meeting wen we were almost there they would tell me we are going to Mental Hospital & by the way you are the speaker i freaked out ,but you after i did it a few times i started to realize that i could end up here it got me to start getting more serious about the AA program.
Tonight i went Jail ,the guy were so happy see us ,they said they haven't had a meeting in months ,they had some great stuff to share ,i felt so much Peace wen i walked out of there ,,if you are new' think about doing this kind of service work were i am at we have a hard time getting volunteers
That's cool Russell....Good for you. It's interesting how happy they are to see you guys....And the peace you get out of it by being there.....That's a Win...Win situation right there......Thanks for the share.
My sponsor drug me around to jails and psych ward visits to share AA and meetings. It changed my view on AA, the true compassion of sharing the truth, and how much people hurt.
Stick with it. Those service calls stick with you forever. And when those people get out, they remember you forever. It freaked me out o hear a speaker mention a few of us that visited with him in jail.
You are on the path brother! Don expect a lot of company on that path though. Not many like doing that. Nothing better or worse about any kind of service work. Play the song god gave ya, and play it well.
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"I spent a lifetime in hell and it only took me twelve steps to get to heaven."
"Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you."
What a great post! One of the first meetings I went to when I tried to get sober before was in a Psychiatric ward of a local hospital. Didn't know I was going there until the lady that drove me picked me up. She pulled over and said, "Oh yeah, maybe I should let you know where we are going tonight in case you don't want to." Well, I didn't want to, but being too unassertive to tell her, didn't tell her that. There were only three of us AA'ers in there and several patients. I had to read the 12 Step Promises and struggled through that. It was only my second day of sobriety and I was detoxing and looked a hot mess, but got through it. She also told me to share, which again, was a struggle but I got through it. I felt better after the meeting though and that I was there to help them with the meeting.
I talked with a man at one of the meetings who was looking for volunteers to go to a women's prison. If I was driving and/or it was closer I would love to do that. Hopefully in the future I can. I think it would make me feel more fortunate about my own circumstances and having seen the inside of a jail cell a couple of times myself because of my alcohol problems, know it may help some people.
Something I plan to do later in life. For now, working in an institution stops me because there could be unnecessary overlap between potential clients and myself. I can say that they REALLY need more good meetings brought in and the folks could use more outside connections for sponsors also.
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
Russell