EDITORIAL JUNE 2019

Dear Reader

Summer has arrived as we reach June, the sixth month and thoughts of Step Six and Tradition Six. My drinking caused me to make many mistakes and when the Fellowship helped me to eventually put the glass down I assumed that such mistakes would end. In my early immature sobriety this seemed to be quite logical. But as we know there is very little logic in alcoholism. So I found myself continuing to make mistakes and often the same ones over and over again. But the Programme of AA helped me to see my character defects and the part I played when yet again I made a difficult situation worse and yes, made another mistake.

Step Six in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions quotes "This is the step that separates the men from the boys." (p.64) In this Step I have to ask myself, "Am I entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character? Am I really ready to let stuff go?" Recovery in AA for me is about change and this Step continually asks me if I am ready to change. To leave behind old habits, old destructive pleasures, a way of living that just did not work for me anymore. Many of us have become used to fairly chaotic lives, to the point that chaos becomes a natural state for us. Am I now ready to let this chaotic but familiar life go? This is scary stuff, steps into the unknown for many of us. But we have our Higher Power and our Fellows to support and guide us in this new adventure.

Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, I learnt how to avoid some of these repeated mistakes but also that mistakes are a part of life and sometimes the best thing we can do is just to laugh at ourselves when things go a bit wrong.