“Willing to go to any lengths” is often a topic in the rooms of recovery from addiction, as it was in my own home group just recently. During the entire hour, I listened intently to each individual share what they were willing to do to remain clean and sober. There was talk of making sure sponsors were regularly called, step work getting done, meetings being attended, etc., all of which are the standard things I’ve heard over the years any time this topic surfaces at a meeting. Unfortunately, there’s one thing that people tend to forget about whenever this topic arises, and for me, it’s the very reason why I’m still active in my recovery 24 years in.
What is it?
It’s a willingness to go to any lengths solely to be there for others.
The whole point of a 12 Step program, no matter what the addiction, is to eventually get out of oneself to help another. I’m willing to go to any lengths today, not necessarily for myself to remain clean and sober, but more so for others who may need my help. In my humble opinion, that is the true foundation of 12 Step recovery work. It’s why I feel I’m in recovery in the first place, because someone else with much greater time than I did that very thing for me when I couldn’t do it for myself a long time ago.
People seem to overlook the whole point of recovery is getting to a life of selflessness, where the drive is to be of service to others and not to themselves, which is precisely why I get frustrated when I hear people saying they are skipping a meeting they normally attend because they’re tired, or there’s bad weather, or some other more important event to go to.
I don’t really attend meetings anymore for myself, I do it because I believe that God can use me there as a vessel to help others find what I was given and taught. So, me not showing up for anything short of sickness or emergency, often feels like I’m just being selfish, for my very presence in any meeting at any point, could change the life of another, just by me listening to them before the meeting, by giving them a hug, by sharing my own experience, strength and hope during the meeting, or by connecting with them after the meeting ends.
12 Step recovery programs were founded on the principle of “we, us, and our”, and not “I” and “me”. We are not here just to keep ourselves clean and sober. We are here to support each other, to lift others up when they are down and we are up and to be lifted up, when we are down, and others are not.
The bottom line is that I am willing to go to any lengths today in the world of recovery for others. I am willing to go to any lengths to show up for others, because I never know where God may use me to be of service to Him. Maybe I’ll be used to save the life of another suffering addict and do the very thing for another that was so graciously done for me all those years ago, when my life was saved from certain doom, when addiction had its icy grips on me, when one person named Lorraine said I’m there for you…because she had the willingness to go to any lengths for me, and I’m forever grateful for that. And now it’s my turn, to return the favor, by going to any lengths for another…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
