I don’t think I go to AA meetings for group therapy. Apparently some people do with the encouragement of some people, who should know better. The outcome of such meetings is probably that the people, who bring up their relationship problems, may be worse off at the end of a meeting like this than they were before they opened their mouths. That’s because they hear messages from others, who are just as helpless. That and the words of those, who do know better, get mixed up with all the other stuff.
Have a problem? Why not talk about the solution? Why talk about the problem for an hour? The solution to all our problems are in the Steps. Maybe not an instant answer. But like most of our problems, including alcohol it takes time. None of us got this way overnight. Time takes time. But we can make a beginning by learning what it is that works.
My experience and that of others I know is that there is nothing like the 12 Steps to bring an end to the confusion and chaos, which so plagued my life. So, maybe we should occasionally pretend we’re at an AA meeting and talk about a Step or a Tradition. Talk about what does work.
If I have problems, I don’t bring them to a meeting for discussion. I talk to my sponsor or another sober alcoholic. If nothing else, I can get the direction I need to begin to solve the problem. None of us in those meetings are counselors, or if we are, we should leave it at the door. We’re not doctors or lawyers. The program is not a lonely hearts club or a bank or a hotel or motel. What it does do is to offer me a way to solve my alcoholism problem, which is probably the cause of all my other problems. To stop drinking and get sober is the beginning of answers to all that has plagued me.
The evidence of the solutions we all seek is right under our noses. It’s all those in the rooms, who have achieved sobriety and changed as the result of working these Steps in our lives. But there are no quick answers.
On the other hand, when I think about the restoration to sanity, it’s about alcohol. My relief from the drink problem I had. It’s definitely not about other things. Like Paul Simon’s album Still Crazy After All These Years. Maybe that’s what I was witnessing in those encouraging group therapy. All I know is that I just had to come home today and get this out of my system.