So I am going to local NA meetings and also plan on attending an AA meeting today to see if that fits (thanks to everyone for responding to my other post about NA vs. AA).
Last night at the NA meeting I went to, a couple of people had talked about how they had not been to a meeting in a while and realized that they had really needed the meetings as part of the recovery, even though they had been working the steps with their sponsor.
So that got me thinking, what is "working the steps" and how does the sponsor become involved with me in that process?
I have read through the steps and get the idea that I am supposed to move through them somehow and accept them / beleive in them. As it stands I am still sitting on step 1 as far as what I know to be true for me. But that conversation in its own post, what will "working the steps" mean? What will I do? What will my sponsor do? Is there a book I should be looking at?
My sponsor has given me things to do, focusing on a step at a time. For instance (remember I do AA, not NA) I read through the Big Book, and underlined things that I could identify with. Same thing with the Twelve and Twelve. Also, For each step, I have to look up the meanings of each word in the step. I'm blessed in that I also attend a women's step study group one night a week, where we literally talk about a step at a time, what it means to each of us, we share stories pertaining to the steps. When my sponsor and I feel I've come fully to terms with each step, we move on to the next one. From what I understand, each person will sponsor in slightly different ways, but utimately the goal is the same: your sponsor is your expert guide through the unknown wilderness of sobriety.
We actually don't "work" the steps: we live them, practice them, and incorporate them into our thinking. When I am "working" step one, I aware of how I am powerless over my addiction and how it makes my life unmanageable. For me, this means that if I use drugs again, I will start back on a path that leads to using more drugs and various bad consequences for me and others. For me, there is no moderation when it comes to using drugs. Since I don't want those bad things to happen, I choose not to use today. If I incorporate step one fully into my life and thinking, then I won't use drugs. If I use drugs again, that means that I have not totally accepted step one. Working the steps, for me, involves various activities, including: reading the NA literature on the steps, such as the Basic Text or It Works: How and Why (I don't recommend the step-working guide for newcomers because it is too complicated and intimadating...I used only the Basic Text when I got clean 26 years ago); writing about the steps (what do they mean to me, in my own words); discussing the steps with my sponsor; and going to meeting where the steps are the main focus (such as step meetings or literature discussion meetings).
Dave.R wrote,, " (I don't recommend the step-working guide for newcomers because it is too complicated and intimadating...I used only the Basic Text when I got clean 26 years ago)".
Yep,, I think so too. I remember we had the guide called "Working Step 4 in NA"... Fab piece of literature.
However, it is a "questioning" approach, one that never seems to work with addicts, at least in context of getting honest answers.... No wonder I never met a body till this day actually completed any of the guides....
When I did write the 4th after a few years in recovery, all my sponsor asked me to do was to write thoughts..
1. Write an incident from memory 2. Describe what happened 3. the note the thought that came at that very moment in time.
This to me was the simplest form of writing and I latched onto it easily and did my 4th,,, all of my life was covered. I believe that to a very large extent my life and thinking are not rooted in past mistakes. Im free to live in the here and now and live and enjoy life without the use of drugs.
-- Edited by Raman on Saturday 13th of August 2011 03:05:34 PM
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Raman an addict clean and serene just for today in NA Worldwide ; live to love and love to live the NA Way !!!
