Recently at a meeting a member was sharing. Although he now had many years of sobriety, he still felt some anxiety about speaking at meetings. Thankfully, his level of anxiety had decreased over time. He attributed this to some advice that a fellow member had given him when he first came in. In his early days, he would just sit somewhere in the back of the room to avoid sharing. However, on a weekly basis he attended a small meeting that sat in a circle. It was impossible for him to escape speaking at that meeting. He confided his anxiety about sharing to one of the old timers in the circle. He told her he was worried what other people would think about his share. She smiled and said that the people who had already shared were going over in their mind what they had spoken about. Should they have deleted something, or added something in their share? The people who hadn’t shared yet were formulating in their minds what they were going to speak about. “So you see”, she said laughing, “you don’t need to worry about what you say at this meeting, because no one is paying attention anyway”. Although it was a bit of a joke, he realized that there was some truth to it. From that point on whenever he shared he just visualized everyone in the room being self absorbed; and his anxiety level decreased.

Personal Reflection: Am I sharing frequently enough at meetings?