Wisdom Of The Rooms - 2016

[bluidkiti]

August 29

Quote of the Week

“Stick with the winners.”

In high school I was pretty much a loner until I discovered alcohol and drugs. The moment I did, I began hanging out with the “wrong” crowd. I started ditching classes to get high with the stoners, and hanging out at night drinking and going to parties. I soon became the lower companion parents told their kids to stay away from. While other students were concerned about their GPA's and picking colleges, I was considered one the losers who would be working a minimum wage job after school – which is exactly what happened.

When I entered recovery and started going to meetings, I saw that there were two kinds of people there. There were the ones who participated by greeting or setting up the meetings, and then there were those at the edge of the street smoking and flicking their butts on the sidewalk. There were those who sat near the front of the room and raised their hands to share, and then there were those who sat in the back and talked or who spent more time on their cell phones than listening. There were those who stayed after the meeting and thanked the speaker or reached out to others or helped clean up, and there were those who left early and were never seen at fellowship.

Right from the beginning, my sponsor taught me to “stick with the winners.” He always sat us in the front row and told me to greet any newcomers after the meeting by offering my time and asking how they were doing. He taught me to participate in meetings by taking commitments that got me involved and encouraged me to interact with others. By doing these things I was able to forge strong connections with other people who were committed to their recovery. As a result, I had a solid base of people and relationships to draw upon when things got tough – which they did.

Today, I still look for those people who are working the program because I know that by continuing to “stick with the winners,” I’ll become a winner myself.