If You Want What We Have

[bluidkiti]

From the Book

If You Want What We Have:
Sponsorship Meditations
By Joan Larkin

©1998 Joan Larkin

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The more you can experience the interconnectedness of
all beings, the healthier you will be.
ANDREW WEIL

Newcomer
I’m spending a lot of time traveling, because I don’t like going to meetings in my neighborhood. What if someone who knows who I am happens to see me going in, or even show up at a meeting?

Sponsor
Of course, you can travel to other neighborhoods if you want to—it’s not going to hurt anyone. But I wonder if your fear is justified. Most people I know are thinking about their own lives, not about mine. In the unlikely event that a neighbor sees me walking into a church or community center for a meeting, he probably won’t know just where in that building I’m going or why, unless he’s been to the same meeting!

I appreciate having meeting in common with people in my neighborhood. Though I’m certainly not required to become friends with them all, I feel strengthened knowing that we share a program of recovery. Once, in early recovery, feeling in danger of having a slip, I recognized another recovering person coming down the street toward me. We nodded to one another and moved on. I didn’t know her well, but seeing her reminded me of my own connection to the program and of what a gift recovery has been in my life. Perhaps your example will save someone else’s life one day, whether you know it or not; meanwhile, you’re saving your own.

Today, I let go of self-centered fear.
As someone who shows up for recovery,
I’m willing to be a power of example