Workshop Leader Board

I am getting on in age. It is pointless living as if there were endless years ahead.

Long ago, when I was all of 30-32, the then fledgeling RSS Bangalore approached me to join, saying I’d be made a member of the organising committee. I said NO then. I’ll say NO now. My ‘reasons’ are below, but they’re based on AA’s Traditions!

A long time ago, I decided I will not be available for individual sponsoring, step 5 or 8-9 advise. I think it's time I desisted from 'engaging' with Organisers too. It's simply not worth my effort or time.

For the first time, I began to grasp the intensity of each step in a small way and its relevance to all areas of my life. We worked through each step, step by step over a 3 month period during the weekends and I was mandatorily required to take a sponsor as part of the workshop to work the steps outside the classroom.  Finally, I took a sponsor, thanks to this workshop!  I realised that by being in a structured step workshop, it is easy to follow the working of the steps in a planned way as detailed by the workshop leaders......

The fact is, most of us get into action in fits and starts. Often enough, once a "short" break is taken, it turns into a long - and sometimes, permanent - break!

What is the trick that those few people use to be persistent? Does it mean they don't take breaks? Or is there something else at play?

Find out what I discovered.

"Your Life is Unmanageable," my Sponsor said to me. First, I ridiculed him. I asked, "managing 5 companies at the same time and you say my life is 'unmanageable'?" "My bank balance is handsome and you say my life is unmanageable?" "Are you out of your mind?" I asked.

Alkys and Addicts, like Co-Dependents, are very familiar with that feeling of emptiness. Obviously, not all can actually recognize it, let alone see it as a major issue in their lives.

As I came into the fellowship and attended my first full week of meetings, I was quite elated and fired up. I had found the root cause of my alcohol addiction. And better still, I thought I knew the way out.

But as weeks passed into months, not only did that excitement vanish, but I started to become bored with 'the same old stuff' being regurgitated endlessly.

In the fellowship, sponsoring is promoted as a way not only of helping others still struggling with the programme but also as a way to advance one's own recovery. This is not a new concept. The various roles of supporting others, known by different names around the world, have been around ever since the advent of civilisation.

However, in the fellowship, it has degenerated into a turf protection political game.