In May 2012, I found SA and became very curious about how the program worked. I got a sponsor right away, and she told me that one way to get myself out of my head—to stop thinking of myself—was to become involved and be of service.
Some of us come into these rooms crawling on our hands and knees because we know we have no option other than to stop our destructive way of life. Others, like myself, are pushed into these rooms and—if we are fortunate—we too discover that we had no other options, that our lives are unmanageable, and that we are insane.
When I was eight years old, my mother would ask me (her only child), “Will you help me by drying the dishes and stacking them on the counter?” I enjoyed the activity and felt I was part of the team.
In November 1971, I had a spiritual experience that changed my life direction. But for some reason God did not take away my bad habits when I asked Him to. My spiritual awakening that happened “as a result of these Steps” changed my life direction again—this time pointing me toward promoting life in myself and others.
In my early sobriety, SA service provided many opportunities for spiritual growth. My sponsor continually explained the need for a solid grounding in the Steps as the basis for successful service work. As I matured, so did my idea of “successful service.”
Members sometimes ask me, “Why should I do service? Won’t someone else do it? I don’t have the time!” But my sponsor always says: “SA was here when I needed it, and it is my responsibility to see that it is here for somebody else!”
I find my greatest effort is to get the focus off of me and onto others. If I am doing my utmost to be of service to others, I am in a relationship with my God. I don’t have to look anymore!
Although I had finally gotten sober for several months, I was still very disturbed by old resentments and fears, and was dragging my feet on the Step I was supposedly working on. One day, after expressing frustration over my stagnation to my sponsor, he suggested that if I did some sort of service it would raise the ante in my program.
I had always heard, “Service work helps you work your program,” but never believed it until I did service work! Now I say that slogan to others. I try to keep two jobs of service work going to help my own program.
It’s 11:15 a.m. on the second Saturday morning of the month in Silver Spring, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC. The regular Saturday morning SA meeting has let out and the Maryland/Washington DC/Virginia Intergroup meeting is about to begin. I drove 35 minutes to be here; others came from as far away as the Maryland-Pennsylvania border or Fredericksburg, VA, both well over an hour’s drive away.
