THE NEED TO BECOME WILLING, HONEST AND OPEN MINDED

Everyone needs a guide in life - for no one can be judge in their own case. We all need to have someone in our life we can totally trust - and none more so than the alcoholic seeking recovery. I came to understand through being around others like myself, from listening to them and hearing their personal stories of recovery, that such a person was required - a sponsor - to guide me through the 12Steps - the Programme that had brought thousands of people into recovery.Through listening to these people I began to get an idea of what the 12Step Programme was about and of the important part it played in the daily life of the recovering alcoholic.

After about two months I felt I had found the right person - a person who was several years sober, who had completed the 12Steps and was using the programme in her daily life and who I had got to know and felt I could relate to. She agreed to be my sponsor. I can remember feeling excited about starting the 12Steps with her because I had been witnessing the positive change it had made in the lives of others - and I really wanted that for myself.

We arranged to meet - I remember it was a lovely sunny day and we sat outside drinking coffee and chatting. She talked about the relationship she hoped we might have with her as my sponsor and she shared about the positive relationship between her sponsor and herself. She told me she would do everything she could to support me and that I could trust her and turn to her for help at any time - the relationship would be caring and guiding but ultimately I had to take responsibility for my own recovery and I had to take the action myself to make it happen.

I can remember thinking how unusual it felt to be asking for and accepting help from another person because that was someting I never did. I was surprised how right it felt and how good I felt about it.

She put me at ease about the work we were embarking on and said that the most important things I had to remember were to be willing to do what was suggested, to be totally honest with myself and others and to be open minded. She said if you could have solved the problem with your head you would have so now try something different. You do not have to understand why something works in order to get the benefit of it so just keep an open mind and do it. It was important that I become teachable - a further lowering of my pride was required!

She said there was a pace to the steps, that the work was not a 'big deal' and that I should not regard it as such. It was a simple programme of suggestions - just remember to be willing, honest and open minded.

Love and prayers, Rosie