Go into almost any 12 step room and you will observe two groups of people. The first group are people who have accumulated sober time. Not only people with a year or two of sobriety, but often multiple years and even decades of it. Quite often folks enjoy coming to meetings where people have “a lot of sobriety”, because of the wisdom found in those rooms.
The second group are people are those who constantly relapse.They may put together a few days, months or even years but they eventually go back out. We definitely have compassion for these folks because we have seen how devastating a relapse can be and how difficult it is to rejoin the fellowship. Generally speaking this second group professes to wanting the program and the benefits of sobriety. We would not be so presumptive as to say why they keep going out. However, we do know one thing for sure. The desire to stop drinking or drugging will gain you admittance to the program; but can only sustain you for so long. Each of us needs to put in the required work to remain sober. We need to draw on all of the tools the program offers to maintain our sobriety. As they say, “it works if you work it”.

Personal Reflection: How do I work my program?