Louise82

My current sponsor is someone who I would never have picked as a sponsor in a million years. She's a minor celebrity, glamorous and gave shares that suggested her life was way more jet-set and eventful than mine would ever be. We'd also never spoken to one another. Then one day before a meeting, when I was a couple of weeks back from my last time out, she just came up to me out of the blue and asked me how it was going. By the end of the conversation she was my new sponsor, although that wasn't my intention at the start of the conversation and I don't think it was hers either.

We started reading the BB and working the steps right away. We worked the steps exactly as they're laid out in the BB. She said from the outset that she works the steps with her sponsees really fast and I was happy to go with that. As we read the BB and worked the steps, she shared her experiences with me so I could relate my experiences to them. This was especially helpful during step 5. Yes, she pointed out my character defects as I read out my step 4 but she did so in a loving way, giving examples of how she had found herself in similar situations and with similar attitudes.

As I got to know her, I came to realize that I had initially misjudged her by only focusing on her showy exterior. She has 19 years of sobriety, is direct with me, calls me out on my crap and was the first one to tell me to "stay in the middle of the bed of AA". I'm a really private and secretive person yet I never feel like my sponsor is poking her nose where it's not wanted. She holds me accountable but doesn't question me on anything inappropiate.

We've finished the steps but still meet every week to read through the stories at the back of the BB. Once we've finished doing that, we'll work the steps more in-depth, using the 12x12 this time. Not only do I see her at least once a week but she always calls and texts back in a timely fashion if I can't get through to her the first time round. She talks to me like an equal, trusting me enough to open up about her own life and to call or text me if there's something she herself wants to discuss with a fellow AA.

She has a sponsor and recently re-worked the steps herself in order to give up smoking. She is now 3 months without a cigarette.