Recovery's Shelf Life: 24 Hours

I just got back from a noon men's meeting and the chair was a man who had 15 days sobriety. He'd had 12 years until about two months ago and then he went out. Took him 2 months to get back in and get 15 days sobriety. Great chair. No whining. Just what happened and how he got sober again. And what he learned about his disease and his recovery: the principal lesson learned was that he'd gotten disconnected from other recovering alcoholics/addicts and had stopped going to meetings.

When he was done, he called on a guy sitting next to him who had 28 days sober. Also a guy who had some sober time before (6 years) and who had relapsed about three years ago. In the last three years, he's had two periods of sobriety where he got 13 months sober---but each time he relapsed again over something: usually a resentment. Unlike the other guy, he had been going to meetings (about 14 meetings a week) and was very active in AA (was chair of the local Intergroup). But something (a resentment) ticked him off so much that he drank over it to get back at some old-timers who weren't giving him enough respect. He's 28 days sober today and tomorrow he's being arraigned for 2 counts of felony hit and run drunk driving.

These two shares were great for me to hear. Unlike some people in AA who think there should be a rule against newcomers with less than "x" amount of time (usually, I hear the limit set at 6 months), I think such an outright proscription against newcomers chairing a meeting or even sharing in a meeting is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of in AA. Shit! If newcomers couldn't tell their stories, the first five or so months of AA meetings back in 1935 would have been limited to members listening (or at least hearing!) Bill Wilson talking about his spiritual awakening....again and again and again....one fucking time after another! Not only would no one else got sober, I really doubt that Bill W would have been able to stay sober on just telling and retelling his story. And that would have been the end of AA's first attempt at existence.

Clearly, one of the most key aspects of the AA way of recovery is that we need other alcoholics in order to stay sober. We need to reach out to other alcoholics (sober, wet and dry!) if we are to have any chance at staying sober. And if all we're going to do is to talk "at" other alcoholics, no one's going to get sober and no one's going to stay sober.

The other important lesson I learned today is that the shelf life of AA recovery is about 24 hours and not much more. While I don't have the power to stop or control my drinking, I do have the ability to try and stay sober today. Not at all sure about tomorrow, but I think I can do this for the remainder of my day. I'll deal with tomorrow when it's today.

Take care!

Mike L.