ANGELINA243

Welcome! Glad you are here. The NA step working guide is a great tool to use when working through the 12 steps. I recently just processed through Step 12 with my sponsor using this book. I see that this is your first post and just wanted to mention that you might also want to post something in "Newcomers to Recovery". There you will lots of welcomes from other members here. We do recover.

Time2Surrender

LOL. I forgot all about this thread. Man, at one time I was all over these boards. All I can say is, do the steps. It pays off.

ProgramChild

I don't really like the Step Working Guide, I think, if anything, it complicates the steps. The first time I went through the steps I didn't have to write anything down and it was all in one sitting with my sponsor. Now, the only thing that gets written down is my 4th step inventory and my sponsorship group uses a very basic crib sheet with a list of defects and assets. Our literature tells us that we will work the steps over and over and over again, and I get relief every time I do, or every time I get someone else through the steps. I want the relief as soon as possible, and so does the suffering newcomer.

I've seen some success with the Step Working Guide, but I've also seen some relapses with those who could not finish it. I see sponsors in our area working with their sponsees through it (as the Guide suggests) and I've seen some send their sponsees home by themselves which is where I see the worst results.

In our area some sponsors don't let their sponsees start working the steps until months or years into recovery and very few survive that long without the steps. Often times they have them writing about the damn symbol before they can get any relief. I don't care how the steps are worked, just as long as they are being worked.

Gmoney

Well, ProgramChild...there's a lot of talk (pro and con) about the step working guides, and many do think that it can be overwhelming instead of simple (or easy). I have had at least two sponsees struggle with going through the enormous amount of questions, and I thought that they would have a much smoother journey if they were given the "old-school" worksheets that I did as a newcomer. Unfortunately, they dragged their tails with those as well. My conclusion was: It wasn't the SWG that was the problem...it was their willingness (or should I say...lack of).

I hear ya....but to me that sounds very much like the desire for instant gratification that got me into trouble from the start. I'm sure that's not what you meant, but what does come to mind is that our literature tells us that recovery will require us to do many things that we do not want to do....and we often hear it shared in the rooms that we have to become willing to go to any lengths to acheive recovery and/or freedom from active addiction. This, I contend, doesn't happen immediately...and surely not overnight. As the reading we hear in all of our meetings says:

"This sounds like a big order, and we can't do it all at once. We didn't become addicted in one day, so remember - easy does it."

Although I have heard stories of members being "walked through" the steps in a day (or even one sitting), I contend that just as we didn't become addicted in one day, we do not recover from (often a lifetime of) addiction in one day. I also contend that relapse doesn't occur as a result of how fast or slow a person does step work, whether they used worksheets or the SWG, or whether they start step work at 3 months or three years. Addicts use because they want to get high.

I have a home group member with 17 yrs clean that JUST RECENTLY began doing stepwork for the first time..and I know several others who have stayed clean for 10 yrs or more without a sponsor or doing any type of formalized stepwork. On the flip-side, I've also known a number of members that claim to have done the steps multiples of times (using various methods) and they used ANYWAY. It has also been my experience to meet members that claim to have done (what is called in my area) microwave stepwork...racing through the steps for whatever reason...and some of them used and died.

My sponsor started me on the symbol, and today I do the same with addicts that ask me to sponsor them. I give it away the way it was given to me...and it worked for me because I'm still here after 12 yrs. Although I've formally been through the steps more than once, I no longer feel I'm required to go through each step in order. You see, I live the program today and the steps are a part of me. I found relief from drugs when I stopped using them...and moreso when the obsession to use them was lifted from me in my 1st yr (before I ever completed all 12 steps). Because addiction is a disease that affects every area of my life, the process of finding "relief" from manifestations or symptoms other than drugs is ongoing.

I do agree that it really doesn't matter which method an addict uses to work the steps...just as long as the steps are worked is what's important. What I don't agree with is any type of indirect or direct blaming of sponsors for the failings of sponsees. Our recovery is our own personal responsibility, and what we get out of this thing called NA is very often a direct result of the willingness, effort and practice we put into it.

G

Aa_vark

Man I havent been by here in ages! This old thread here on top, same old posters alive and well. that may be cosmic coincidence? I'm am sure though that stepwork played a part in this.



Aaron