Sitting in AA, we might’ve heard the saying, a problem shared is a problem cut in half. The Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book says it plain. The grouch and the brainstorm, those moments when we bottle it up and get so mad we can’t even talk, that’s not for us. That might work for other people. It doesn’t work for the alcoholic, obviously. We have to let it out. So here we are. Fourth step done. It’s all on paper now. Not floating around in our head like a tornado, but written out where we can actually see it. Patterns started to show up. The stuff that sets us off. The thinking that quietly kicks our alcoholic minds into high gear. It’s not as mysterious as it used to be. Now comes the part where we don’t keep it. We take the biggest problem in our lives, our own thinking, and we bring it to another human being. Not to impress them. Not to perform. Just to tell the truth. And something happens when we do that. It loses weight. The pressure comes down. It gets cut in half. A sponsor is ideal. Someone who’s been there, who won’t flinch, who won’t try to fix us or judge us. Just someone who listens while we bring this stuff into the light. Because the goal isn’t to bottle it up better. The goal is to pour it out once and for all and make room for something refreshing and new.
Do you have someone you can talk to in AA?
