Newcomers

The newcomer to recovery often feels alone in a hostile environment. To be sure, some of the sea of troubles he thinks he's drowning in may be of his own making, but we all have had to begin to learn to live with the world as it is before we could begin to find sobriety and serenity within ourselves.

We shouldn't be too eager to swamp the confused newbie with advice. A warm welcome and words of hope may be all that he can use at first.

Newcomers bring us an opportunity work the Twelfth Step by sharing the healing we have found in Christ. We profit from such giving. As we share our experience, strength, and hope, our own understanding is clarified, and we grow in our own recoveries.

—Anonymous