I entered SA in August 2017, having heard of it a year earlier. My first meeting was on a Saturday morning in the city of Ghent, Belgium, where I live. It was in a messy but cozy living room of a presbytery. SA had been very warmly welcomed there by the old local parish priest who gave us the room when approached by a fellow in 2014. This Saturday meeting has been my home meeting for the last 6 years.

A couple of years ago we brainstormed about a possible new location because the room was getting too small and too full at times, but we didn’t actually go ahead and do it.

Late last year, however, a new opportunity came up: it looked like we were going to be able to rent a really large room in a nearby parish center. As it turned out, we couldn’t rent that hall, but we were promised the small room at the back of the building; the room would be used only by us which would allow us to hang the Steps, Traditions, Slogans and the like on the wall, and lock the room. When we came to view the room it looked quite dingy; the carpet was worn and the walls were dirty with stains.

We decided to go for it nonetheless. Three fellows put their hands up for painting and in one day the walls were like new. Laying the laminate took longer. Several fellows worked on it; some even came from another group three hours away to help us! After two working days, it was finished.

I helped out putting down the laminate. I didn’t find it easy. In my illness I dislike (heavy) work, especially if I have to bend over a lot and kneel and crouch and reach and lift and drag… Nah! Life for me was always supposed to be comfortable, easy going. Laziness has always been one of my character flaws.

But that’s changed in recovery. Sure, physical work can sometimes feel daunting, but with a healthy attitude I can enjoy physical work and certainly the end result. I especially enjoyed working with others, following the lead of those with more experience in this kind of thing.

Everybody contributed something according to his or her talents and helped to shape the meeting room. Some fellows provided chairs, beautiful new glasses for coffee, water and tea, coasters, plants; the 12 Steps and Traditions went up on the wall as did the Promises.

The hard work and going for something to eat afterwards strengthened my Step 0 experience because it added so much to my sense of Fellowship, of belonging to the group. In fact, activities such as doing things together, going for walks, having something to eat or drink have kept me in the fellowship and not simply drift away after a few months.

Fellowship has shown me that there is indeed life after lust. While Fellowship activities don’t necessarily guarantee sobriety, they do help keep me coming back. They give me a “lust” to keep working the program and make phone calls (something I did too little of in the beginning) and come to meetings. Step 0 doesn’t make me better, but it helps sustain me through the rest of the Steps.

But the excitement around our ideas and our plans and working together did something else too: it consolidated our sense of being a group as opposed to being just meetings; a solid group of friends who work together towards the same purpose. It was such an enjoyable and healthy experience for all of us and our bright and cheerful new meeting room reflects it. I wish it for every fellow and group.