I am looking forward to my Saturday morning meeting this morning. I went to a disturbing meeting last night. It is held at my church, so I frequently have the temptation to go there. But every time I do, I think I won't again. There was a drunk woman there last night, she was very disruptive and wouldn't shut up. They, being a nice clean group who sits around talking about their "high bottoms", didn't have a clue how to handle the situation. And when my friend did handle it, she got lambasted in the meeting by the "nice" people who don't like "cross-talk." Excuse me? When a drunk person will not shut up, someone needs to tell them to be quiet. And if, while sharing in a meeting, you are telling someone else that what they did was "cross-talk," isn't THAT "cross-talk?"
So I will happily go to my home group where they know what to do with a newcomer. Where there are strong "pillars" of the group. Where you don't get the feeling that the whole thing is about to conflagrate.
My ex-husband who had spent years in alanon (prior to marrying me), used to call it "removing myself from the situation." It would be silly (and dangerous) for me to continue to attend the group where I feel so uncomfortable. I can easily just not go there. I live in a major metropolitan area. There are over 1,000 meetings a week in this metro area. I don't need to go to one I don't like.
Update on my hip/leg/knee/tibialis/ankle pain. It still hurts like hell. But I think I know now that the pain is actually coming from my left acetabulum. I will likely go to my doctor on Monday, unless I get some miraculous relief from the pain this weekend. But it hasn't happened yet. When you are a runner, it doesn't make sense to run to the doc with every pain, because you get lots of them, and most of them resolve themselves. But when rest doesn't get rid of the pain, there is something going on. That is why I wanted to take three days of rest to see what happens. 1 down, 2 to go. We shall see.... Thanks for your prayers. I do appreciate them.
"When we developed still more, we discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where nothing else would." -- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 116
8 comments:
Repair thyself, anonymous alcoholic.
Well I did have to look up acetabulum. Not that I will ever remember the word.
The handling of disruptive behavior in the rooms should not be a mamby pamby approach, that is serious stuff. Life and death matters. I am glad your friend spoke up.
I re-visit meetings all the time, only to be reminded why I stopped going there.
I'm with you, there are too many great meetings to waste my time going to "sick" ones.
Enjoy your day Mary-Berry.
Last time I checked, this was life and death for many many folks.... Handling disruptive folks in meetings is extremely important. Letting someone go on and on about their problems while they are drunk is just like sitting at the barstool and listening. I did plenty o that out there, and don't think (though I've been wrong before) that the message of AA is carried that way. But, like I said, I may be wrong....
Good for your friend!
Also - would like to acknowledge that i had to look up acetabulum as well and have to say, ouch. Please take care of yourself.
I love your quote today. I am finding this so increasingly true for me.
lol dAAve... MC, sorry for your pain, I'll include ya on the list of prayers...
Yea, the meetings that are based more on "process and syntax" than substance can be tough to take... It's a fine line between trying to bring good AA to a situation and driving yourself insane... I agree, sometimes we jsut have to let things be what they are and take care of ourselves...
God will know what to do!
had a chat with an old timer Fri nite who mentioned how there are those who think they have good recovery and there are those who behave as if they do
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