Finding the Balance

Life in Recovery
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We talked about balance in my AA meeting today and I thought it was a really good topic, although I didn’t share there.

From the big book
Father will necessarily spend much time with other alcoholics, but this activity should be balanced," and that "We must always remember that we cannot buy our own peace of mind at the expense of others,"

I never got caught up in the service work of AA. I probably should but to this day, I struggle to really fit in. I haven’t even found a sponsor here and I’ve been attending for years now. I had a sponsor in TX but contact dwindled off after I moved and she had to focus on other sponsees that were actually there.

I’m single right now but when I did have a family I focused on my family and put AA and meetings on the back burner. I only relied on meetings when things weren’t going well. If family life was good then I was good..but I wasn’t working on my recovery and I found that I burned out real quick. Even now that I’m single, I tend to want to isolate and stay home if things are ok. I force myself to go to one meeting a week because I need them. My desire for service work is there both for AA and church but my work schedule restricts that ability right now. So I struggle with balance. I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone quite a bit. I got to meetings, I attend a Bible study at a different church after my meeting. I go to my church group and services. All of this is helping me find balance and not get caught up in my selfishness of just wanting to be alone and just chill at the house. I’m sharing this while I wait for Bible study to start because other wise, I’ll end up going home and watching it on YouTube. My AA meeting lets out at 11 and Bible study is at 12. I know that I need the interaction my life and this where I work on the balance lol. Thanks for reading

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I think ur doing an amazing job stepping outside ur comfort zone and doing the things u need to do for ur recovery :slight_smile: Sounds like u have a very productive day to day lifestyle :slight_smile:

I know that when i first started attending 12 step meetings at the age of 21, i spent TOO much time doing service work, meetings, coffees after the meetings etc and almost neglected other areas of my life, including relationships and holiday gatherings. I think initally, its okay to be a bit selfish in recovery as without our sobriety we have nothing. But i do believe that there comes a point in our recoveries where balance comes into play. The whole point of sobriety in my opinion is to learn to become a productive and involved member in our families life and in society in general. There will need to be a point in which we step out of our comfort zones and become more involved. Idk, thats what i get out of the Big Book reading u posted.

Im glad u have so many positive things on the go :slight_smile: I think ur doing an amazing job my friend.

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