Honesty as a Solution

The topic at yesterday's 12-step meeting was "honesty." The speaker spent 15 minutes sharing the experiences of his drinking and drugging days. He talked about how, no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't stay out of jail or keep a job. He gave credit to the 12 step programs for the near normal life he enjoyed today.

Those who shared afterward agreed with the speaker’s assessment: the 12-step program was the key to their sober lives today.

One member summed it up well. He wasn’t sure his core beliefs had changed all that much. But what he developed after joining the 12 step program was guidelines, principles that deterred him from old behavior. He still had occasions when he thought a lie would be better than the truth. But he'd been told by his 12-step sponsor to be honest, that he’d get better results. He sometimes sees things that, in the old days, he might’ve stolen to trade for drugs. But since he's been in the 12 step program he hasn’t taken a thing. Nor has he been to jail. Plus he’s developed a circle of friends who understand what he goes through in his sobriety – a support system he relies upon.

When we look around the meeting rooms and see our brothers and sisters struggling with honesty and other issues we develop a sense of unity, of communal problem solving that helps us stay sober. It’s the idea of “if he can do it so can I.”