The Power of Fellowship

Tonight when I got home was an Instant Message and an email waiting for me.

The instant message was from someone with whom I have just recently become friendly, who had some disturbing news about a friend who has been in the program before. She was being haunted by those same thoughts we have all had when we hear that someone is not doing well. Having this disease of alcoholism can be scary. Because we know how easily it is to backslide into old behavior and where that behavior can lead us.

The email was from a new acquaintance from the blog world. She is being bombarded with life. You know, all those pesky little things life can throw in the path that, if we are not careful, can trip us. Sometimes people are put in front of us that cause us to demand we stand up for ourselves. We do that, make the other person know what the boundaries are, so we can have some continued serenity. She just needed to reach out to another person in the program.

In many cases the way to deal with the shitty committee stuff is to put it into the hands of a higher power. We keep our side of the street clean. When we get a little involved with our mental stuff, if we are spiritually fit, we can turn it over and let it go.

Both these women turned to me, not because I have all the answers, but because I am, pure and simple, another alcoholic. We alcoholics are there for each other. If I have some problem, no matter how big or small it may be, all I have to do is reach out. That, my friends, is not always easy to do. It was a completely foreign thing to me when I first came back into the program. The relief came when I finally realized that I don't have to do it alone, ever again. Unless I just want to be in pain.