When one alcoholic/addict shares with another alcoholic/addict

[MajestyJo]

From "Working with Others:

"Practical experience shows that nothing will
so much insure immunity from drinking as
intensive work with other alcoholics. It works
when other activities fail....You can help when
no one else can. You can secure their confidence
when others fail."

c. 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 89

We help others by helping ourselves. It has been my experience that even though someone may continue using the seed has been planted. I don't have the power to stop someone from using, all I can do is carry the message of recovery by sharing my experience, strength, and hope.

When I do that, I stay clean. By helping new people, I don't forget where I came from, what it was like, so that I can appreciate what I have in today and be grateful for the recovery that has been given so freely to me. In order to keep it, I must give it away. More importantly, I have to have it to give. You can't give away what you don't have.

I was told that I needed to top myself up and then give away the overflow.

I have also found that you can't help someone unless they are truly willing to get help. There are many who need this program, but it only works for those who want it and have a willingness to live it.

When I share or listen with a fellow alcoholic/addict, it is important to identify and not compare. We may not have used the same substance, but the feelings and the pain is the same. Whether I use alcohol, pills, men, relationships, food, work, gambling, etc. to fill my emptiness, it all leads to the same soul sickness.