Page 222 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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WOMEN SUFFER TOO 207
treat into my prison of loneliness and fear over a
fancied slight or hurt. Talking things over with them,
great floods of enlightenment showed me myself as I
really was—and I was like them. We all had hundreds
of character traits, fears and phobias, likes and dislikes,
in common. Suddenly I could accept myself, faults
and all, as I was—for weren’t we all like that? And,
accepting, I felt a new inner comfort and the willing­
ness and strength to do something about the traits
I couldn’t live with.
It didn’t stop there. They knew what to do about
those black abysses that yawned, ready to swallow me,
when I felt depressed or nervous. There was a con­
crete program, designed to secure the greatest possible
inner security for us long-time escapists. The feeling
of impending disaster that had haunted me for years
began to dissolve as I put into practice more and more
of the Twelve Steps. It worked!
An active member of A.A. since 1939, I feel myself
a useful member of the human race at last. I have
something to contribute to humanity, since I am
peculiarly qualified, as a fellow-sufferer, to give aid
and comfort to those who have stumbled and fallen
over this business of meeting life. I get my greatest
thrill of accomplishment from the knowledge that I
have played a part in the new happiness achieved by
countless others like myself. The fact that I can work
again and earn my living is important but secondary.
I believe that my once overweening self-will has finally
found its proper place, for I can say many times daily,
“Thy will be done, not mine”... and mean it.