Doug39

I spent six hours with my sponsor today and we got through the first 7 Steps - I had Step 4 all written out in advance.

When I first started going to AA I thought I would fake it and just limp my way through the Steps and do it alone.

For anyone thinking about AA or has tried AA and didn't like it - get a sponsor and give it a fair try - it has changed my life for the good.

Fly N Buy

Good Job Doug, well done.......

Done4today

Congrats!! The steps are the program. Happy joyous and free is the results of your actions/work.

tomsteve

great thing for me to read first thing this morning!

aasharon90

After working the steps we now can live
them each day we remain sober building
a stronger, solid foundation to achieve
health, happiness, honesty and all that
the promises offer to us as written in the
Big Book of AA.

Good job from another AA member
traveling on this road of recovery
with you and many more.

ljc267

I'm a big proponent of doing whatever it takes to get you where you need to be, and I think you've found it.

Nice work!

Doug39

Thanks for the support.

As always - whenever I have a really good day the following day stinks.

Today I was many PAWS symptoms, anxiety and racing thoughts. I went to a meeting this morning and saw my sponsor.

I may have to go to another meeting today.

Grungehead

Congrats Doug on getting this far through the steps. I know in my own experience getting to the point you are at now was in some ways a relief, yet the prospect of actually starting the amends process did cause me a bit of anxiety. After all, I was about to put myself "out there" with no control of how others would react to my amends.

I found that this was a critical juncture in my recovery, and probably the most difficult for me. This is where I had to remind myself that I was willing to go to any lengths to stay sober, and I guess this is what "any lengths" looks like (making amends) .

When I made my list of amends I grouped them into ones I would do now, ones I would do later, ones I was on the fence about doing, and finally ones I couldn't see myself ever doing. This made getting started easier as the amends in my now group were to people I knew would accept my amends and were genuinely glad I was sober. It turns out that by the time I finished the now list I had become willing to move on to the next group. By the time I had made amends to the first few people on the later list the 9th and 10th step promises all started to come true for me.

If you're feeling a little uneasy just read the 9th and10th step promises...they have all come true for me and I am confident that they will come true for you too if you keep moving forward!

Done4today

The bad days remind us to be grateful of the good ones. Doing the steps give us a clean slate to live a good life with honesty, integrity, and honor. Doesn't mean we are free of life's problems.

Gottalife

Well done Doug. Did you conduct the step five review, I think it is about page 75, where we take an hour just to check on progress so far. How did that go? How are you feeling about those fifth step promises?

Doug39

We did Steps 6 and 7 right after we got done with Step 5 and then after Step 7 my sponsor had me sit quietly and he left the room for awhile. He returned about 15 minutes later, did not say a word and then he sat down and fell asleep.

My period of reflection was only about 40 minutes or so. I feel good about it all - it went well.