November 15
What Nobody Told Me
We remember the bewilderment of our first service meeting: unfamiliar initials, documents everyone seemed to understand, decisions that had apparently begun months earlier. Later, those things became so familiar that we stopped noticing how much we knew. When a new person asks a basic question, it can sound like poor preparation. We may have forgotten how many patient explanations made our own competence possible.
Passing on experience includes the ordinary information that never makes it into a job description. Where are the records? Which deadline comes sooner than expected? Whom can someone ask when they get stuck? Sharing those details need not become a lecture on doing everything our way. We can offer what we learned, including what we would do differently, and remain curious about what the newcomer brings. A useful handover gives another person a beginning without handing them a script for every decision.
What knowledge have I begun treating as obvious that someone once had to explain to me?
Remembering our first questions can make room for theirs.
For the A.A. nerds: The A.A. Service Manual, Appendix E, “The Principle of Rotation.”