Growing up in the 1990s with a learning disability wasn’t something people talked about openly. Back then, kids like me were often pulled out of class for special help or given something called an Individualized Education Plan — an IEP. I didn’t understand what that meant at the time, but I knew it made me different. The label followed me through school, and so did the quiet embarrassment that came with it.

When my little sister shot and killed her husband, my older sister thought it was because she drank too much whiskey. She sent her a case of wine, thinking that it was the whiskey that caused the trouble, and wine would be much safer. We alcoholics frequently have the same kind of magical thinking that we can find a form of alcohol or a drug that won’t give us all the trouble that we have been experiencing. The same thing happens with all the varieties of drugs that are out there on the open market. 

Every Wednesday, I teach classes on addiction and mental health at a residential program in downtown San Antonio for men and women who have been recently homeless. I have the men for an hour, and then the women.

A new woman came early for class. She had picked up a copy of my book there, “Being Sober and Becoming Happy”. The book made sense to her about recovery, and AA seemed to make sense to her, but she said she had one problem: neither my book nor AA were Christian, and she is.

In my recovery group, if the minute hand reads :32 minutes after the hour and the meeting hasn’t started, someone will gently ask the chairperson, “What time does the 6:30 meeting start?” This will usually elicit some laughter from the attendees, and then the chairperson will start the meeting. However, this raises a bigger question: when does the meeting start?

Introduction

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has long been regarded as one of the most influential
mutual support programs in the world. It truly is the origin of the peer-to-peer help
model. Rooted in spiritual principles, AA emphasizes the concept of a "Higher Power of
your own understanding." Ebby Thatcher first introduced this idea to Bill Wilson, the cofounder of AA. Ebby said, to Bill, “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?”
(Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 12). This idea was revolutionary to Bill and would start him
down a path toward permanent sobriety which he achieved the following month. This
idea became a bedrock of AA spiritual principles. This incident became so foundational
that AA historians have named it the GOMU moment, or “God of My Understanding”
moment.

In the “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous, we read “We are not cured of
alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of
our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will
into all our activities.” The book suggests a constant meditation on what God wants us
to be doing, all through the day.

“The Master entered a village where he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance. They raised their voices, saying, “Master, have mercy on us!” When the Master saw them, he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” As they went, they were cleansed. Upon realizing that they had been made clean of their leprosy, one returned to thank the great Healer.  The Master looked upon the man and asked, “Where are the other nine?” He then said, “Go, for your faith has healed you.”” (Lk 17, 11-19). 

Recovery is more than breaking free from addiction; it’s about reclaiming a healthier, more balanced life. Wellness in addiction recovery plays a crucial role when the focus is on rebuilding one’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Staying sober is not the only solution. Growing and thriving in every aspect of life is also important.

In my volunteer work with a local service entity, I occasionally will have a volunteer come to me in frustration over working with a treatment center, outpatient clinic, detox or the like.  The conversation goes something like this, “They’ve asked for speakers, but I can never get them to return my calls or emails to coordinate.”

There was a group I attended occasionally whenever I felt like I needed an extra meeting.  I joked that the only membership requirement for this group was that you had to have a desire to stop drinking and twenty years of sobriety.  They had about twenty regular members and if you added up the collective sobriety dates of the attendees, they would have had over 400 years of sobriety.  The room was full of old timers, but seldom attracted newcomers.