[jimhere]

In my home group, no one shares until they have done a fifth step with their sponsor. This applies to home group members only.

I wasn't a member of the group I belong to now when I was new. But my sponsor told me this:

"If you knew anything at all, you wouldn't be here. So let's just be quiet and listen. You have been spreading the sickness for a long time. Soon you'll have plenty to say."

He knew my history. For years I had been going to meetings and spewing out what it was I thought you wanted to hear, whining about all the injustices done to me and how cruel life was to me, or spewing out treatment center lingo. I know what it soulds like, listen to it all the time these days.

For this reason, there are several meetings I don't attend anymore. At the beginning of the meeting the chairperson asks for "Birthdays" and then you have a room full of thirty, sixty, and ninety day wonders to listen to. They really have nothing to say, except to ask for help. Meanwhile there are people in the room with thirty plus years of solid sobriety who remain silent because they are not asked. I have noticed that there aren't many old-timers in meetings any more. I think this is the reason.
Jim