December 18 — Traditions
We’ve probably all heard the line: the Steps keep you from committing suicide, and the Traditions keep you from committing homicide. Funny. Not funny. But there’s a truth hiding in there.
After I’d been around AA for a bit, I started to feel the ick again. Not enough to put a drink in my hand, but enough to get my head loud and uncomfortable. The kind of restless, irritated feeling that usually doesn’t end well if it goes unchecked. So I called my sponsor and told him what was going on.
He said he’d heard a guy share about applying the Traditions to his own life, not just to meetings. That stuck with me. If it was good enough for that guy, it was probably worth a look for me.
When I tried it on, things shifted. Unity started to matter more than being right. Group welfare looked a lot like not blowing up relationships just to feel justified. Anonymity felt less like secrecy and more like humility — letting my ego take a back seat so something else could breathe. Suddenly I wasn’t the center of every conversation or conflict anymore.
When I looked at my life the same way we look at a group, a whole other world opened up. Less tension. Fewer imaginary enemies. More room to stay sober and sane. Turns out the Traditions weren’t about controlling people — they were about keeping me from making a mess I’d later have to clean up.
Have you ever noticed your sobriety improve when you cared more about the whole than being right?
