Our basic troubles are the same as everyone else’s, but when an honest effort is made to “practice these principles in all our affairs,” well-grounded A.A.’s seem to have the ability, by God’s grace, to take these troubles in stride and turn them into demonstrations of faith. We have seen A.A.’s suffer lingering and fatal illness with little complaint, and often in good cheer. We have sometimes seen families broken apart by misunderstanding, tensions, or actual infidelity, who are reunited by the A.A. way of life.
Firefox’s spell check doesn’t like “else’s.”
I don’t have much to say about this. I don’t know if our basic troubles are the same. Surely the troubles brought on by our favorite coping mechanism, drugs and alcohol, bring a whole truck load of extra problems piled on to the originals. Practicing the principles of AA in all of my affairs is the only way I know to try to cope now, and to get better at it, and to get better.
I haven’t had much up close experience with people suffering lingering and fatal illnesses to know if AAs act differently.
As for couples. I know some who were together when they were drinking, and who have stayed together in sobriety and so of course have done much better when sober. I know some who have met in sobriety. Some have made it and some haven’t.
I was in a sick and awful relationship when I came in. It wouldn’t have lasted with or without AA, though AA was a constant source of strength for me to end it. I got married and divorced in sobriety, and I’m married again. The AA way of life is integral to my relationship. It’s really all I know, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
