I found a sponsor who I heard at a meeting a year ago "today" (Friday at noon before Memorial Day Weekend). I felt her pain and mine. We talked (I ran to her before she could leave the meeting) and she knew how to take someone through the steps very quickly. We spent Memorial Day Sunday and Monday (she was in MD for a week on business and had to go back to CA) working the 12 steps of AA. On June 1, I woke up without a craving or desire to drink, much of my anxiety was gone and I didn't have as much social phobias. Weird, huh? I thought so. And I continued to go to meetings, I worked the program by calling people, meeting for coffee/window shopping/sober activities/service work at any meeting I was at/whatever was suggested, I did it.
Changes kept happening. Friendships made. A sponsor near me obtained. Big book study and discussions of steps. 12 steps again at 4 months and 8 months (my brain was healing, I had to do this, plus, who wants a sponsor who only went through the steps one time??)
I found relief in working the steps of AA. Meetings don't keep me sober. The steps are what keep me sober when I am in the regular world.
"We practice these principles in all of our affairs"
After a year of sobriety, I am still getting a clearer brain, I keep practicing what I've learned, and things keep getting better. I work steps 10-12 daily; specifically working on a conscious contact with a power greater than me.
Hugs,