AA member vs. Employee

Often when people get sober, they are unemployed or unemployable.  Then after they get sober and the obsession to drink has been removed for a while and are truly grateful for gaining a new lease on life.  I’ve heard many newly sober A.A.s mention “The only thing I’ve ever done that was worth anything, was work the program of Alcoholics Anonymous”.  Once the wolves are at bay and they begin to try and begin a ‘career’, many are tempted to try and utilize this new-found expertise into their ability to earn a living.  My first sponsor warned me of this and suggested very strongly that I avoid that situation until I had at least 10 years!  Not really knowing what kind of work I could find, I reluctantly followed his suggestion.  After all, I was unemployable, I had no skills and I was irresponsible and undisciplined.

Over the years I’ve seen many others who have chosen that alternate path, and I’ve seen many of them change the way they live and even drop off the radar screen.  I’m not about to suggest that Alcoholics can’t be tremendously valuable to treatment centers, hospitals or drying out places.  I believe there are times when only an alcoholic can help.  That was certainly the case with me.  But what I see is a very challenging situation for the newly sober AA.

My first sponsor went on to tell me that often times, people get their ‘job’ confused with their own personal recovery.  I’ve actually seen it.  People spend 8 to 10 hours a day, talking about their experience, what they’ve learned about AA and how they worked through the steps.  Often times, it’s easy to confuse that with their own recovery program and let their homegroup committments slide and they may even quit attending their regular meetings altogether.  The lines between being a member of AA and being an employee become blurred.  This is a dangerous place for the newly sober AA.  It takes discipline and a lot of commitment to keep the job and the personal recovery seperate.

I believe this is one of the reasons we have Tradition 8.  Because once we begin to get paid for our services, and money is introduced into the experience, people have expectations… the boss expects a certain performance level, and the employee expects to get paid.  I believe I’m at my most helpful with another alcoholic, when I’m working for fun and for free.  I will always be able to find a ‘trade’ which will allow me to earn a living, practice the principals of the AA program, stay away from the dangers of blurring the lines between employee/AA member and Still be quite helpful to the professional community.