I’ve written about this before, but I think it’s important enough that I’m doing a sort of reprise.

I have a couple of friends from the program who call me almost daily.  The calls are inevitably for one of two reasons: lightweight “bread-and-butter” calls (okay under some circumstances, just to touch base) or to bitch about things that they’d rather whine about than change (not okay, in case you didn’t get the drift).

Part of my job, as a person in recovery, is to support others traveling the same road. In the rooms we do that in various ways: sponsorship, example, showing up at meetings, sharing, taking phone calls, listening, fellowship, and any number of other things.  These things are as integral a part of our programs as abstinence from acting out in our addictions.  We don’t do these things simply out of altruism or codependency; they are the things that keep us on the path in sobriety.  Frankly, I don’t dare not do them!  They don’t make me special; they make me part of a program of recovery. Continue reading →