Service

One of the things I got involved in early on in my recovery was service.   What is service?  It can be many things.  For me, it took the form of setting the chairs up prior to meetings.  I was the chair person.  HA!   But that small service kept me coming back to meetings every week.  I honestly took pride in setting those chairs up the right way and didn't want to not do it.  It never occured to me that they'd been setting up chairs long before I got there without my help - I guess that's where having a big ego actually worked in my favor.

Over the years, my service levels evolved, I've been involved in every level of service up to the regional level - which means basically that I travel more and know more about the fellowship than someone who doesn't do it.  This weekend I'm going to a Regional Assembly in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and I'm really looking forward to it.  The hotel is right on the beach, but the weather doesn't seem like it's going to cooperate.  That's okay, I'm mostly looking forward to the company - there's such a great group of people there and I love being involved.

You know, before I got into recovery and started doing service I was always one of those people who stood on the sidelines and judged others who were "doing".  Whether they were doing sports or performing in some other type of activity, I was too self-involved and self-conscious to do too many of them, so instead I pointed and laughed.  It's always easier that way when you're a coward.  Doing service has taught me that it's okay to make mistakes and that there will always be the people on the sidelines pointing and laughing, but that doesn't have to stop me.  What other people think of me is none of my business.  What a concept.