"I hope Mel finds AA. They're good people."
No problem. Must agree about the fine, sober people in AA. They've been "my crowd" for many years. More specifically, they also saved my life.
My point is that entirely too many people believe they have to identify the 'root cause' of their drinking BEFORE they can sober up. Wrong-o. That's a thoroughly bogus, backward assumption. If I'd sat around trying to figure out the 'root cause' of my alcoholism, I'm confident I'd still be drunk. Or dead. Or nuts. Living sober trumps all three of those options by many, many miles.
Day one of my recovery numerous AA's told me the first thing I needed to do was to stop drinking. Completely. They assured me there'd be plenty of time to work on all the rest of my issues once I attained and maintained sobriety. They were right, of course. 'Root causes' don't matter. Sobriety does.
I couldn't agree more.
I went to an early morning taping one time of a local children's TV program. The man who played the clown was a long-time entertainer around town, like 30-40 years or so.
Backstage, he pulled out a Hazelden meditation book like one I had, and began reading the day's prayer and meditation out loud to the crew. It was really nice and when I had some time with him alone after the shoot, I thanked him for it and nosed around a little to find out if he was an FOB(W).
Turned out he wasn't, but he loved the 12 Steps - said how great the world would be if everyone practiced them as an everyday thing. He had done it for years. I felt the same way and I was so glad I had gotten to know him a little bit.
He died not very long after that and had the full clown funeral (a la MTM show), televised and everything, and I was very impressed with the quality and quantity of people who had been attracted into his life (nearly all in whiteface, no less, including dignitaries). Bottom line: It works if you work it, whether you need it or not!