Although I am just completing my Step 12 now, I do believe I have been working my program in the spirit of it long before I reached her, and I think anyone can if they are willing.
The spirit of Step 12 is to try and carry the message to the still suffering, and I have found that I was able to do that for others in early recovery by reaching out to people I went to treatment who were struggling, not attending meetings, or getting complacent in their recoveries.
Getting involved with hospitals and institutions and chairing service meetings for people in treatment centers and detoxes was another way to reach out and try to carry the message that I really enjoy as part of my recovery routine.
As I round the corner on my 12th step for the first time, I am quite excited and would be lying if I said I wasn’t more than a little afraid to take on my own sponsee(s) and give back that which was so freely given to my by my sponsor. It’s a huge honour and a huge responsibility, but my sponsor was very clear and told me that the deal was that if he took me through the book and I made it through, it was my obligation to do the same for others. It is not my obligation to him, but rather to the program and to the still suffering.
This program saved my life, gave me a design for living a happy sober life, and the tools to deal with what life throws at me. The very least I can do is pay that forward to the next person that wants it. It could save a life as it saved mine.
My Higher Power and my sponsor will be able to guide me through any challenges I might face as I begin this new and exciting phase of my recovery.
