April 3
The Same Language
Someone across the room describes hiding a bottle, rehearsing an excuse, or waking with a dread they cannot explain. The details may differ from ours. Still, we recognize the private reasoning with startling ease. Something we considered too strange to tell anyone has been spoken aloud by a person who now looks reasonably at home in the world. We may begin listening differently after that.
Identification can make honesty feel possible before we have much courage of our own. Another person has shown that this part of life can be spoken about and survived. We need not match every fact in their story to accept the invitation. Nor must our own story become impressive before it can be useful. The ordinary truth we hesitate to share may be the very thing that helps another alcoholic feel less foreign in a room full of people.
What have I heard from another person that made my own truth easier to face?
One familiar detail was enough to make me listen.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step Five.