If You Want What We Have

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From the Book

If You Want What We Have:
Sponsorship Meditations
By Joan Larkin

©1998 Joan Larkin

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I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise….
And breathe the air and leave plenty after me,
And am not stuck up, and am in my place.
WALT WHITMAN

Newcomer
I’ve been told to make program calls, but I hate bothering other people, and I don’t like them bothering me. I can’t bring myself to ask people for their telephone numbers in the first place, and though a few people have offered me their numbers at meetings, I haven’t used them. How can I make phone alls to people I don’t know? Especially when I don’t really have anything to say other than that I fell terrible and don’t know why!


Sponsor
New recovery is a little bit like starting to walk after having been paralyzed. In recovery, we’re moving muscles that we haven’t used before. It’s uncomfortable. It’s work. But because we want to get better, we need to stop making excuses. I follow suggestions and use the tools of the program. I let go of my self-centeredness and see that making a program call is a gift: it offers someone else the opportunity to share his or her recovery. I recognize, too, that in the adult world, people can tell me when they aren’t available to talk; I don’t have to figure it out for them! I can be honest about where I’m at today, too—I don’t have to have my act together before I make a program call.


Today, I allow others to further their own recovery by sharing their experience, strength, and hope with me.