October 2018: The Top Line
CONTENTS
Editor’s Note
Aimee A.
Thank you for reading the October issue of Great Fact. First, I should address the fact that this is the October issue. We skipped September due to logistics and the general busy-ness of life. Sooner that we realized, it was October, and here we are.
It’s somewhat fitting that I get to write my first editor’s note when the issue’s theme is top line behaviors. In the thick of my life before recovery, I lost the connection to one of my first passions: reading and writing.
Even when I first drew up a list of top line behaviors, neither of those activities made it. Writing, of course, is a requirement of most stepwork, and it was in the course of doing that, and a confluence of things that were brought into my life—writing at work, the chance to edit this newsletter, to name two—that I began writing again. And I began to be inspired again.
So I am so honored and blessed to have this opportunity to be of service using one of my top line behaviors. We have a great issue here, with many of our members sharing their own top line behaviors. I hope you’ll come away inspired, as I have.
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The Top Line: An Opportunity I Am Now Afforded
Rob M.
When I first came to recovery, it was all about avoiding bottom line behaviors: No sex outside committed relationships, no porn, no hooking up. I left an unhealthy relationship, calling my sponsor every time I had urges to go back to it. A lot of the unmanageability that came with acting out disappeared. What I was left with was the loneliness that came with the absence of my old coping mechanisms. Eventually I came to terms with not only the direction I need to avoid, but the direction I need to go. I began dating again after about a year in recovery, but I noticed something different this time. I wasn't desperately trying to throw myself at the next taker. I naturally started setting boundaries. I had the opportunities to act out but I didn't although the thought was there. I set boundaries, and even though I felt the loss of the chance to have sex, I gained respect for myself. I also lost the opportunity to end up with an STD, I wasn't going to spend the next 2 months freaking out, I wasn't going to be knee deep in resentment because I allowed myself to be objectified another time. I didn't think of these things before.
A year ago I visited my favorite vacation place in Wisconsin. I went alone. I had to face some of the things I lost throughout the years. I looked over the beach and wanted to see my siblings running across the beach. They're all grown up now and have other priorities. Mine was and is to recover every part of myself that I’ve thrown away throughout my addictive years. I looked over the lake and remembered looking at it as an endless ocean. Now it’s a lake. The carefree childhood innocence has been replaced by adult responsibilities and worry. Life was a big and scary ocean.
Just last week I visited the same vacation spot. I'm almost two years into recovery, and this time it was different. I felt a strong sentimental feeling, but instead of loss it was a feeling of gratitude and meaning. The fact that I'm in a place where I care about something special that I wouldn't just throw away. It’s a part of my authentic self. I looked at that endless ocean as an opportunity that I am now afforded as an adult who can make adult choices. I remember only fantasizing about crossing it on a wave runner; of course back then only being an innocent child I was in no place to make that kind of choice. Now I am and I did.
Life is all about balance. With the loss of my addictive life comes the choice of my recovery. I don't have to act out. I don't need to have someone in my life or make destructive choices. The bad news is I have to make adult choices as an adult; the good news is I get to make adult choices as an adult. I can choose behaviors that build me up, I can take care of myself. I can choose partners who are good for me because I know now that I am worthy of them. I have a sponsor to call when I'm feeling afraid or uncertain.
I’ve always felt something was dying in me as I grew up, making life seem darker and darker. After all this time I’ve finally given it a name, and that's hope. This special place reminds me of that hope. Without hope, all I had to fall back on was my bottom line behaviors.
Now that I have the tools of recovery. I have the counterbalance that I’ve never been able to find. All the burdens of adult life can be balanced with the things that matter to me.
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Practice Patience
Aimee A.
Practice patience has always been one of my mantras. But as I get to know myself more in recovery, I realize that before, this was a phrase like any other for me: I liked it not because it meant something to me, but simply because it sounded good.
And it does sound good: the alliteration, the double syllables in each word, their rhythm and cadence. Practice patience, practice patience, practice patience. Also, the sentiment: that patience isn’t something you are born with. Patience is like a muscle, something that gets stronger the more it is used.
In recovery, I find that I need to slow down quite a bit—slow down and wait and practice patience. Whenever I share with my sponsor that I’m struggling with something and starting to obsess, she’d advise me, Be patient and kind to yourself. Do your top lines.
Early on, I’d burn through my top lines one after another: This one’s not working, let’s try the next. Soon I learned that they don’t solve things instantly. It’s not like taking an advil for a headache and feeling it dissipate within an hour. As much as I’d like them to be, none of my top lines are a quick fix. There is no quick fix for the fear and resentment that comes up every day. Looking for a quick fix is what gets me in trouble and leaves me dissatisfied..
Going to my top lines was and always has been an exercise in trust—at first it felt blind. All I had to go on was the word of my sponsor and my fellows. Now I have built experience with my top lines helping to ease my pain, if only in little increments. Still, those increments slowly add up.
My top lines give me something else to do to break the cycle of obsession that I start to find myself lost in when I’m struggling. I start at the top of my list of top lines and work my way down as far as I need to go. I trust that, even if I don’t feel immediate relief, if I do these things, eventually I’ll see the discomfort has eased. My mind calms, my breathing slows, I am more resilient. I feel stronger.
My top lines, in no particular order, except that meditation is always my first option:
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Meditation
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Yoga
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Eating good food
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Making good food
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Having a dance party with my inner family
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Taking a shower
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Writing
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Reading
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Talking/spending time with loved ones
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Napping
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Announcements
Contribute to GREAT FACT
GREAT FACT is seeking contributions for future issues
We're prepping for publication for the next few months and looking for the following submissions:
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Essays
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Fiction
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Poetry
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Artwork
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Photography
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Upcoming themes (deadline):
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November: "Acceptance is the answer to ALL of my problems today," from p. 417 in the Big Book (October 14)
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December: Conscious Contact (November 15)
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January: "We will love you until you can love yourself" (December 15)
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February: About Health (January 15)
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To submit, please send an email to mailroom@slaachicago.org with the subject line "Newsletter Submission."
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Upcoming Events
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Fall Gathering
presented by Chicago-Milwaukee Intergroup
Saturday, November 10
11 am - 5pm
North Side Alano Club
5555 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago
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A day of SLAA leads, workshops, fellowship, food, and fun!
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If you're interested in being of service, please contact us.
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SLAA Online Text-Only Chat
Those who need an additional resource in their SLAA recovery are invited to SLAA Online text-only chat recovery fellowship. Find more information by visiitng the SLAA website, slaaonline.org, or by emailing slaaonline@yahoo.com.
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Join other SLAA fellows on the anonymous email list for the fellowship-wide Journal, and read in the monthly e-newsletter, which includes ways members can be of service and stay informed, including
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If you would like to subscribe to the Journal, please click here for more information.
Contribute
The Journal is also asking for submissions for the “Question of the Day” for November and December: How do you recover from acting out with someone in the Program? How do you act around them, around your group?
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Submit responses or other contributions to www.slaafws.org/journalsubmit by Sept. 15.
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Report on the Annual Business Conference/Meeting Report
Scott F.
Throughout the week of July 31–August 3, the Conference Charter Committee of SLA.A. conducted its Annual Business Conference/Meeting (ABC/M) in San Antonio, TX. As a first-time delegate to the ABC/M, representing the Greater Chicago-Milwaukee SLAA Intergroup, I’d like to share some updates and thoughts on the experience.
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The core of the meeting’s business is conducted each year in a series of general sessions. The agenda for the ABC/M is comprised of a series of motions and items for discussion, which are presented to a group of delegates representing SLAA Intergroups from across the United States and around the world.
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For 2018, the agenda items that were discussed, and the results of those discussions, are summarized below:
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While these agenda topics are certainly of importance to Intergroups and members, my observation is that most of the work of the ABC/M takes place in committees. Three hours each day were dedicated to committee meetings, where planning, budgeting, and nominations of officers for the coming year took place. The idea that I would want to leave members of our Fellowship (and readers of this newsletter) with is that the committees are seeking more members to assist in the work of the Fellowship. And the list of committees is long, with committees that appeal to specific areas of interest or skill that you might already have. Even if you don’t, your ideas and your perspectives on recovery can be an important addition to the ongoing work of a committee, and the larger Fellowship. The list of committees includes:
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Anorexia
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By-Laws
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Conference Charter
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Diversity
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Finance
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Hospital/Institutional Outreach
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Healthy Relationships
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Intergroup Communication
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Journal
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Literature
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Member Retention
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Public Information
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Service
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Sponsorship
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Steps, Traditions and Concepts
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Translation/International Outreach
Committees meet on a monthly basis, via conference call, and anyone is welcome to join. If you’re interested, or have questions, please contact me at scottf.recovery@comcast.net.
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West Chicago Intergroup Newsletter
Call for Submissions
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Our friends in the West Chicago Intergroup invite members to contribute to their newsletter to share their experience, strength, and hope. According to Mark K., "Writing an article for our newsletter is one way you can serve yourself and others." For more information, email pcomind@gmail.com or visit the West Chicago Intergroup website.
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Thoughts from the Summer Retreat
On August 10–12, the Chicago-Milwaukee Intergroup sponsored a retreat in Benet Lake. The co-chairs, Anthony and Zane, have shared some of the feedback from that retreat, which was, by most accounts, a wonderful and fulfilling weekend—with great activities, illuminating leads, and lots of fellowship.
There was volleyball and poetry.
Marvelous speakers all weekend. So many insightful and honest leads. . . . We also had a killer 90-minute, two-round championship of beach volleyball. So many people came alive through using their brute physicality. . . . I also love the creative expression part of the retreat. It's another way to see individuals come alive in positive ways, top line behaviors, outside of the disease.
It was great to fully be part of the "we." Playing volleyball with my fellows was a surprisingly spiritual experience. Best retreat I've ever been on!
We forged connections.
Being at this retreat was a joyful experience. I appreciated connecting with my fellows and friends, especially while surrounded by all the beauty in nature. Going on a silent group walk, listening to leads, attending meetings, laughing, crying, sharing, and being present with myself, my HP, and others were all highlights of the weekend.
The SLAA Summer Retreat this year was an excellent opportunity for me to enjoy fellowship with others in program as well as refocusing in my recovery. I found it reinvigorated my meditation practice, gave me a much getaway from the city, and most of all deepened relationships I have in program.
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It’s one of the best gifts.
My life is full of challenges and fallow patches, detours, sudden bursts of progress and occasional hard-won periods of contemplation in high places, where everything is clear and good. Having a weekend to savor the goodness is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. I wish I’d come sooner to this insight. In a way, you get the retreat you’re prepared to have and get out of it what you are willing to risk. I wish I’d been more courageous and taken more risks and been more open, this tie. All right. That’s fair. But it was still wonderful. Once I notice that, I keep on seeing.
We danced in the woods.
I have been in recovery for twenty years and this was my first retreat. II had been waiting for my life to feel more wonderful, or to feel better or more confident or more “whole” before having the “fortitude” I imagined I’d need to attend a retreat. . . . How could I be among other people for days at a time with no hope of escape and not end up an exhausted anxious mess by the third day?
I found it’s not a burden being among people when they’re the right people. It’s not scary, when no one is pushing you, but walking calmly with you, instead. Your life, if you have found recovery in S-fellowships, is likely more wonderful now than you think. . . . I was always waiting for something in the future to make it wonderful, so that made it impossible to recognize the great things already happening, as it turns out, all the time, every day. Dancing to 40-year-old disco hits in sandals, in the woods, is wonderful, no matter how old you are. Seeing more stars than you remember from any sky of your childhood is wonderful. People that quietly speak their truth are wonderful and so are those that play guitar, or sing, or share with us one of their own writings—all all wonderful. Meeting new people is wonderful and realizing that, probably, many of them will become the kind of friends you will have the rest of your life, is patently and profoundly wonderful.
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Recovery Music
Anonymous
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In this regular contribution to the newsletter, I, a huge music fan, draw from a recovery playlist I have to recommend songs around a certain theme or by a certain artist related to recovery, spirituality, being present, having fun, dancing, being yourself, being in community, and so on, or just songs that make you feel good with their grooves.
This month's artist has to be Aretha Franklin. With her recent death, much has been discussed about her life growing up as the daughter of a famous preacher, CL Franklin, and her gospel pedigree in becoming the Queen of Soul. Aretha's fiercely muscular, shouting vocals could also convey other emotions besides joy, but for this newsletter, I'm focusing on some of her recordings about joy. The Aretha recordings on my recovery playlist are either gospel songs like "How I Got Over" and "Precious Lord, Take My Hand/You've Got a Friend" (with the latter sung as, "You've got a friend in Jesus") and good time party songs like "Good Times," "Try Matty's," "Rock Steady," and "Soulville." All testify to the importance of either belief in a Higher Power (in her case, Jesus) or having fun as a way to get through hard times.
If you're interested in learning more about my recovery playlist and what's on it, contact the SLAA newsletter and they can get in touch with me.
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Some Thoughts on My Top Lines
Bruce P.
I have found top lines to be extremely important as a part of my recovery. Top line behaviors are those behaviors I will participate in, as opposed to bottom lines, which are behaviors I will not participate in. Top line behaviors define activities for me that include both self-care and recovery.
My top line behaviors include going to meetings regularly, working the steps, calling my sponsor, talking with my sponsees, and being of service at the group level. Going to meetings is a no-brainer. I go to five meetings a week, and I have them scheduled so they’re spread out. I use them to structure my week. I’m retired and too much unstructured free time can be dangerous.
Working the steps—over and over—keeps me on the beam. I am muddling through life and continue to make mistakes as I go. Therefore, I have to do regular inventories of my resentments, fears, sex conduct, and “take to the graves.” I throw in a few more things like essays on the seven deadly sins and the seven cardinal virtues, and emotional insecurity, just to be thorough. I also do a daily Tenth Step inventory.
I call my sponsor six times a week because that’s what works for me. I also try to talk with my sponsees regularly. If they don’t call for a while, I’ll call them to keep in touch. For me, sponsorship is just one addict working with another. Also, I try to be of service. I used to do general service at the Intergroup level and, in my other program, as an office manager for the program in Chicago. I had a sponsor with the same level of experience who pointed out to me how much of my ego was involved in that, I don’t do that anymore. I’ll chair a group, be a treasurer, or take another service position instead. I give leads and make comments on the topic of the day. That’s my service commitment today.
In terms of personal care, I try to make sure I’m doing the things I need to to take care of myself. I do isometrics every day, and make sure I take showers and brush my teeth. I used to go to the gym, and that’s a top line behavior, but I just can’t get motivated on that lately.
The other thing I do is take care of my inner child. I play. I go to movies, by myself if I have to. I have a monthly movie group that’s fun. I eat out. I go for walks to clear my mind and keep fit. I do things with my family, too, but it’s important for me to do things for myself. Play and doing things outside the obligatory is very important. Acting out rears its ugly head when I haven’t done anything for me and I want to have some “fun.” I have to be careful about that.
While I’m retired, I find my old profession of doing academic research is fun and rewarding for me too. I have to be careful with this because it can become an obligation, and that may not be fun. Most complicated tasks have aspects that are not fun at all, but I have to keep my eyes on the big picture. Politics plays a similar role in my life.
Finally, top line behavior is extremely important to my sponsees who identify as anorexic. They need to lay out activities to overcome their social and sexual isolation. Setting top lines of doing social things each week, like going to church or a movie with someone, or dating (when they’re ready) help break out of the anorexia. Each sponsee, of course, needs to set his or her own top lines in this regard.
Top lines are an integral part of the SLAA program. We mostly focus on what not to do (bottom lines), but spending some time on what we need to do is important. After all, we need to learn to live wholesome and sober lives and to remember, “We are not a glum lot!”
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Paul D.
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NOTE: This column documents the experience of a program member who was sent overseas for job training. At one point during his sojourn, he remarked that his goal was to not just white-knuckle this trip, muddling through until he got home to safety. He wanted this to be a chance to actually work an even better program, to look the disease square in the face and improve his sobriety. Part of his recovery plan was to email a group of about fifteen program members on a daily, sometimes twice-daily basis. It’s a fly-on-the-wall look at how program principles can be woven into the mundane elements of a life.
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Good evening today. I stayed sober today from all my bottom lines including porn, masturbation, cybersex, and sex outside my marriage. It was a pretty good day here. My last full day in India, my last day of work here, going home tomorrow, and it was sunny for the first time in weeks. I had breakfast with coworkers, and then my Indian counterparts bought me lunch, which was very kind of them. It was good to sit and talk and get to know them before heading home. I stuck to all my boundaries with female coworkers, being very appropriate in all my interactions and not trying to be overly funny, charming, witty, or interesting. I am grateful that the temptation to be different in order to attract attention from them is so much less than it used to be. Recovery is working. After work, I did some shopping and then had dinner by myself. Once I got back to my hotel room, I read some recovery literature, I talked with my wife for a bit, listened to an AA podcast, another podcast about marriage from a minister I really like, and then I dialed in on a phone meeting. So this phone meeting was definitely different than any others I've attended. There were a lot of breathing exercises, chanting, etc. in addition to the SAA readings. Honestly it didn't do much for me, but I'm not letting that bother me. Not every meeting is going to be the best one ever, right? I'm working on getting my stuff packed up now, and then before I take off for the airport tomorrow, I'm going to take a trip to the beach to see and get my feet wet in the Arabian Sea. That will be the Atlantic, Pacific, Mediterranean, and Indian Oceans for me, and now the Arabian Sea. It's a thing . . .
I will email a check-in tomorrow morning and then won't be able to email for about 27 hours or so. However, as soon as I get settled in my hotel room in Dallas, I will email again and confirm that I have had my TV removed from my room for the last time on this trip. I'm so grateful for all the support I have received from all of you and can't wait to see many of you again when I return in just a little while. God bless all of you. Thanks for listening.
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Greater Chicago/Milwaukee SLAA Intergroup
Meeting Minutes
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Attendance
Motion to approve June meeting minutes: Y-7, N-0, A-0
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Motion passes
Officer Reports
Chair
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Website updates:
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IG Website
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Cathy recognized for efforts regarding promotion of retreat and newsletter -
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Newsletter
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Aimee added prior copies of newsletter to IG Google drive
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Aimee made a mobile-friendly version of newsletter on Wix to improve readability
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Concern raised about newsletter content now being available on the world wide web
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Motion made to approve new mobile-friendly version with but that fellows be informed that newsletter is now on WWW and that this fact be stated clearly in future newsletters: Y-7, N-0, A-0
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Motion passes -
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40 Questions Document
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Anthony will take over (from Scott) responsibility of adding language informing of document revision and caveats (e.g., not a professional tool, etc)
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Motion to add new meetings (Wed night at NTAC and Wed night on Huron St. downtown) to IG homepage: Y-8, N-0, A-0
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Motion passes
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Fiduciary
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Motion to approve new financial report: Y-8, N-0, A-1
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Motion passes -
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Asking for additional funding from fellowship to support IG events
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Tabled for next meeting -
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Fundraising Event Committee update
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Committee will meet and report back ASAP
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Inreach
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August newsletter: request that content be included to promote summer retreat -
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Retreat updates
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Anthony plans to clear out retreat info from website ASAP after retreat to make rtoom for Fall Gathering promotion
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Anthony/Zane considering asking IG for $300 for use in retreat scholarships in event that meeting/group funding is insufficient
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Discussion held: for now, donations will be requested from groups and individuals
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Fall Gathering
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Tentative date: Saturday, November 10
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Aim to put out marketing materials as soon as North Side Alano Club board approves request for Nov. 10
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Game Night
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Bill will seek a female co-chair
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Possible date in October
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Back to Basics
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Intent of event is to expose fellows to all 12 Steps and encourage more people to become sponsors in SLAA
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SLAA Annual Business Meeting (ABM) Updates
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ABM: July 31–August 3
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Scott will host conference calls on July 23-24 to discuss new SLAA literature proposals
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Another conference call scheduled on July 29 to inform Scott of anything fellows want him to know as an ABM delegate
Outreach
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Insight meeting is doing well
New Business
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Plans to revise intergroup statement of purpose
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Table issue of training new officers
Meeting Representative Announcements
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Ask meetings/groups for IG contributions and meeting reps
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Ask for scholarship donations for summer retreat
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Inform of new mobile-friendly SLAA newsletter
The next meeting was scheduled for Saturday, August 18.
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All SLAA members are welcome to attend Intergroup meetings, which typically take place the third Saturday of each month, at 8 am at St. Hedwig's Church, 2246 N Hoyne Ave, Chicago.
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Sculptures
Tehilla N.
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Cinesobrieté
What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
—Groundhog Day
As an addict, it’s very easy for me to resort to black and white thinking. Truth is sometimes bad stuff does happen. Life has issues and troubles and hardships. I was never promised an easy, trouble-free life—that notion came to me early in recovery when my addict brain tried to interpret the 12 Step programs and determined that the hope of the program could be translated to promises of a fantasy world. How do I know that my addiction tried to corrupt that hope Because, at the end of any such stream of thinking, I would get to drink or smoke or trip or eat or sex with impunity.
Reality at all costs shows me that while there are troubles, that does not mean my life is hopeless. The issues every person faces in a day, and the unique issues that every addict faces in a day, are not the full sum and total of my life. Even if the troubles continue on into a monotony of pain, there is evidence of my higher power holding up the earth beneath my feet. And that’s where I find hope that at the end of today, it’s worth it for me to put my head on my pillow.
My higher power gives me recovery and the chance to fill my life.
More at http://recoveryonfilm.blogspot.com/2015/*
*SLAA and the GC/M Intergroup do not endorse or oppose this non-conference approved website.
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Top Lines: Writing Surrender, Staying Sober
Anonymous
Even though I love to write and express myself, I resisted for years incorporating writing into my recovery. And I don’t mean step work—I already do a lot of writing for that. I mean when I feel like acting out—journaling requires discipline, and as the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book puts it, addicts are undisciplined. I think part of my internal resistance came down to this: I still wanted to act out.
And sometimes I still want to act out, but more actively concentrating on surrender through writing is helping me a lot these days. Something clicked after my last relapse. I’d spent a long time—years—acting “as if” I wanted sobriety and recovery, and enjoying some of the benefits of rigorous step work, but I found time and time again that, again from the AA Big Book, half measures avail us nothing.
I think part of my denial also resulted from confusion about whether or not I’m a sex and love addict. My bottom line is masturbation, which is not always considered sex to the general population, and it doesn’t always immediately make my life unmanageable; it can take a while for the consequences of my powerlessness to rear their ugly head in different ways.
And I had better believe by now that the powerlessness and the unmanageability are very real: they affect my sleep, appetite, thirst, spending, and other areas of my life that seemingly have nothing to do with sex. As for love addiction, though I’ve rarely had relationships, I tend to make others my Higher Power, which is commensurate with how I’ve heard love addiction described, including in friendships.
So, writing down the consequences of my addiction has helped remind me of why I need to stay sober. The other, more frequent part of writing for me is writing down—including in my phone—how I feel when I want to act out. When I write these feelings down, I notice how loneliness comes up often as a reason that I want to act out, so I’m spending more time actively seeking connection with people in different settings.
A couple years ago I wrote a piece for this newsletter on top lines with an extensive list of what I consider outer circle behaviors that help me in recovery. Writing was on that list, but I infrequently practiced it. I recently joined a writing group on social media and another group in real life (meaning that we meet in person), and I’m sharing some of my less personal writing with them. Getting in a broader community has been huge for my sobriety, and the more I practice writing, the easier it gets.
I should also add that a lot of changes are happening in me and my life with Step 9, which I currently work with a sponsor. The AA promises are coming true, and I’m learning to accept more about other people that I don’t like, as well as to take what I like and leave the rest. For me, sobriety and surrender through writing have gotten a lot easier from working the steps with a very traditional sponsor, and the steps work if you work them.
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Top Lines
Anonymous
Even though I’m powerless over my sex and love addiction, I’m not helpless. There is a solution. It’s made up of lots of different pieces—top lines which are quite different from the way I’m hard-wired. Top lines are aspirational--not something I necessarily am able to do perfectly, but identifying them helps me understand where I want to be for maximum likelihood of sobriety on my bottom lines. Here are some examples:
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no flirting with anyone besides my husband
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no doing anything with anyone that I can’t tell my husband about
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no masturbating
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no checking my email obsessively on evening/weekends to see if a qualifier emailed me
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no Googling qualifiers, or asking his work colleagues/friends how he’s doing
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no manipulating my situation so that I get more time/attention from a man that I’m attracted to or who I think is attracted to me
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when I find myself in a situation with a man whose attn I am enjoying, I need to monitor my behavior and modify it if it gets inappropriately giddy and charming
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I try to attend four 12-step meetings a week
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I always have at least one SLAA sponsee
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I attend the winter All-S retreat
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I try to eat healthy every day
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I try to get enough exercise
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I don’t drink caffeine or alcohol
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I try to have a service position at each 12-step meeting I attend regularly
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I encourage myself to go to bed at 9:30 most nights, because I know that rest is necessary for me to function the way God wants me to
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I pray every morning and evening and meditate every morning. I ask God to give me direction about his will when I’m struggling with a particular problem
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I try not to multitask
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I try to remind myself to enjoy the moment, particularly when I’m feeling bored. I try to find something about it for which I feel grateful
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I try not to gossip or give unsolicited advice
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I contact my sponsor when I’m struggling with a problem
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I meet with my sponsor once a week
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I do a nightly written 10th Step inventory
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I take program calls or return them within a reasonable time
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I don’t drive more than 10 miles over the speed limit
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I get regular medical and dental care
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I confront people when their behavior calls for it
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I do things I’m afraid of instead of running away
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Thank you for reading!
Coming in November: Acceptance
We invite you to share your experience, strength, and hope.
To submit, please send an email to mailroom@slaachicago.org with the subject line "Newsletter Submission"
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