I was about a year sober when a grizzled old timer growled out in a meeting, “It takes 5 years in AA to get your brains back, and 10 years to learn how to use them.” I remember thinking to myself, “You must be pretty damn slow ‘cause I’m getting this deal.” By the time I was 8 years sober I was praying he was right! I had arrived in AA with a view of how the world works formed by the life of insanity, despair, and delusion I had been living. It was all wrong, and if I was going to survive I was going to have to discard the mental and spiritual baggage I had arrived with.
But how do you rid yourself of superstitions, traditions, and set ideas that in many cases you don’t even know you’ve got? How do you let go of old ideas absolutely, when all you think you’ve got is a drinking problem? My first home group was infested with old timers, and I remember Bill G, whose story was in the 2nd Edition of the Big Book (“He Sold His Shoes”) telling me that all I needed to be able to do was count the fingers on one hand. Don’t drink, go to meetings, read the book, clean house, and help others. Of course I wasn’t looking for so elegantly simple a solution at the time, but today those suggestions keep me sober.
I no longer think of AA as group therapy for a drunk on a budget. Rather, we are a fellowship determined to do God’s work, a work we are uniquely suited for, work that restores the sufferers to God’s creation. I believe that God smiles when we reach out to the newcomer, when we carry the message of hope and redemption embodied in our 12 steps.
phil, that was really great." infested with old timers"funny....and i was told pretty much the same things. and i totally agree with what you said. thanks for sharing.
I've heard something similar to that saying about the five years. I forgot how it went though. It's kind of scary because when your brand new to AA and experiencing good things it's hard to believe that all this "learned behavior" is going to take five,ten years to get a grip on. I remember one guy saying it took him five years in the program just to get his head out of his ass! LOL! Have a good one.
