I was three years sober and had just lost a job I thought was much too good for me. The committee in my head were all yelling at me at the same time. Then the chairman called for a vote. They went around the table: guilty, guilty, guilty…! It was unanimous. I was a worthless piece of crap. I had no right to a good life. It was as close as I have ever come to picking up a drink.
The same thing that saved Bill, saved me. I picked up the phone rather than picking up a drink. I certainly wasn’t thinking about how many alcoholics I could save. I was only thinking about making the pain go away. I called my sponsor. He instructed me to go to the noon meeting and share about my job loss. I really didn’t want to do that. But by then I trusted my sponsor with my life and reluctantly went and shared. Then he said I should call three other alcoholics and talk about them. I was not to mention my job loss. I did that too. Finally, after working steps one through nine on the job loss issue, the fear dissolved completely and I was lifted up onto a pink cloud.
This powerful experience is at the very foundation of my faith in our program. Work with another alcoholic always saves the day!