✨ WHAT A COMMON PERIL ✨

✨ WHAT A COMMON PERIL ✨

Tonight I was reading the Foreword to the First Edition in the Big Book, pages xi-xii, and something beautiful stood out to me. The authors explain that most of them would never have mixed. They came from different backgrounds, different occupations, different education levels, different financial situations, and different beliefs. Had it not been for alcoholism, many of them probably would have never met.

Honestly, I felt the same way when I first came into AA. I looked around the rooms and thought, "These are people I would probably never hang out with." Our lives were different. Our backgrounds were different. Our stories were different. On the surface, it seemed like we had very little in common.

But as I kept coming back, something changed.

I discovered that the things that made us different were far less important than the thing that brought us together.

We all understood:

• The drinking
• The thinking
• The denial
• The obsession
• The fear
• The self-centeredness
• The shame
• The loneliness
• The inability to stay stopped once we honestly wanted to

Those strangers slowly became family.

These are the people who have seen me cry, watched me struggle, and celebrated my victories. They answer the phone when I call. They tell me the truth when I need to hear it. They pray for me. They support me. They remind me who I am when I forget.

In many ways, I trust these people more than I trust almost anyone else. Not because they are perfect, but because they understand me in a way few others can. They understand the disease. They understand the thinking. They understand what is at stake.

That is what led the authors to write:

📖 "What a common peril is this."

What is that common peril?

It's alcoholism.

Not just the drinking.

But the thinking behind it.

The denial that tells us we're different.

The obsession that keeps bringing us back.

The fear that runs our lives.

The self-centeredness that separates us from God and other people.

The loneliness.

The shame.

The inability to stay stopped once we honestly want to.

The disease that constantly tries to convince us we don't have a disease.

That is our common peril.

And because we share a common peril, we can also share a common solution.

That is why a room full of complete strangers can become family.

What amazes me is that the very thing that nearly destroyed us became the thing that connected us.

Our common peril brought us together.

And our common solution keeps us together.

What I love is that the Big Book doesn't just talk about the problem. It gives us a solution.

The authors wrote that this book carries the "cumulative experience and knowledge" of those who recovered. They hoped these pages would have "depth and weight."

The phrase "depth and weight" always stands out to me. It's HUGE!

I don't believe they were simply talking about the book itself. I believe they were talking about the quality of the experience behind the message.

As alcoholics, we have a disease that constantly tries to convince us we don't have a disease.

It whispers things like:

• "You're not that bad."
• "Maybe this time will be different."
• "You've got this now."
• "You don't need meetings."
• "You don't need a sponsor."
• "You don't need all this recovery stuff."

That is why shallow messages don't keep me sober.

Motivational quotes don't keep me sober.

Good intentions don't keep me sober.

What keeps me sober are messages of depth and weight from people who have actually walked through the fire and recovered.

People who have experienced the obsession of the mind.

People who have experienced the hopelessness described in the Big Book.

People who have worked the Twelve Steps.

People who have had a spiritual awakening.

People who have applied these principles in their lives and discovered that they actually work.

When I hear someone carrying a message of depth and weight, I hear experience. I hear truth. I hear recovery.

And yes, I believe this applies to sponsorship too.

When I am looking for a sponsor, I am not looking for popularity, personality, or someone who simply has a lot of years.

I am listening for depth and weight.

I am asking myself:

• Can they carry a message that cuts through my denial?
• Can they challenge my thinking?
• Can they see things I cannot see?
• Can they help me remember I have a disease when my disease is trying to convince me I don't?

Because depth and weight comes from:

• Working the Steps
• Applying the principles
• Having spiritual experiences
• Living through adversity sober
• Being rigorously honest
• Having recovered enough to help others recover

My disease wants me to forget.

Recovery helps me remember.

And thank God for the men and women who carry messages with enough depth and weight to break through the lies my alcoholism still tries to tell me.

Pages xi-xii tell me this isn't one person's opinion.

• This isn't a theory.
• This isn't self-help.
• This isn't someone's latest idea.

This is the combined experience of alcoholics who found a way out and wanted to leave a roadmap behind for the rest of us.

When I first came to AA, I thought my story was unique. I thought my drinking was different. I thought my pain was different. I thought my thinking was different.

Then I sat in the rooms and discovered something beautiful.

Our stories may be different, but our disease is the same.

Our common peril brought us together.

And our common solution keeps us together.

When this book was written, they were talking about a little over one hundred recovered alcoholics. Today, nearly a century later, there are thousands upon thousands of men and women whose lives have been changed by these same principles.

I am one of them. ❤️

Today I am grateful for the men and women who came before me and left us a book with enough depth and weight to still be saving lives almost a century later.

❤️ Recovery works.
❤️ The Big Book works.
❤️ The Twelve Steps work.
❤️ One alcoholic helping another still works.

And thank God it does.

— Michelle Ann
The Healing Cheff®
She Chose Herself 2012