This is Ameer, recovering sex drunk from Iraq. If I wanted to summarize the AA Big Book on the importance of service, it would be in one word: joy! I have been transformed from misery to joy by freely giving of myself to others. I have experienced the principle: “The measure we give is the measure we get back.” It’s true! I am now addicted to service (in a good way!).

Joy in recovery is not limited to sobriety; it includes helping others and witnessing their recovery! For years I experienced the false joy, the emptiness of lust. Today, I experience a warm and fulfilling joy by my recovery and service! As our basic text says, “[remaining] sober, that motive became secondary. It was transcended by the happiness [I] found in giving [myself] for others” (AA 159).
My service habit started by attending lots of meetings every week. I stayed for hours everyday in zoom meetings. Of course, before recovery, I spent at least as much time, if not more, feeding my lust. If I can allocate time for lust, I definitely can allocate time for recovery. My recovery journey has led me to join the SA Gulf Group, my home group. I am committed completely to this group. I attend every meeting, including the business meetings.
The group used to be very small. The business meeting had only three to five people, including me. We had two meetings a week, Mondays and Fridays. I took the meeting chair position for more than a year; other fellows did the same for an extended number of months. The Monday meeting collapsed. Did I leave the group? Did I wash my hands of any responsibility? Did I unthinkingly assume it is God’s will for us to stop? Definitely not! I said, “God, help me to do thy will!”
As a group, sensing the common threat we face in cunning, baffling, powerful sexaholism, we decided to become a virtual recovery group, open for everyone in SA in the Arab world. We spent two to three hours in each business meeting just discussing internal group issues! We created seven service positions so that everyone could have a chance at service. Soon enough, we experienced a real joy to see the wonderful effects of shared service throughout the group: today we are known as a strong SA group with meetings focused on sobriety and recovery, and the application of the traditions as much as possible.
We are all happy to participate and contribute to the growth of the group. We also created a small focus group within our home group so that we could discuss group dynamics, see where we can improve, and also see how we might avoid problems that have arisen in other groups. Group conscience is not limited to business meetings. It is something we take on a daily basis! We openly discuss in an inclusive environment every “objection”, making sure that is properly considered and respectfully addressed. What better way to apply Traditions 1, 2, and 12?! It works!
I am truly witnessing the Step-Twelve Promises:

To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends—this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives. (AA 89).

Today, I experience joy not only by attending meetings, but also by contributing to the health of the group, seeing it become a recovery bright spot, carrying the message of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. I am not only staying sober, I am happy, joyous and free!