>>16387155When I went to rehab I wouldn't talk to anyone, I'd just sit on the stairs all day and read, until they banned me from reading, and I'd just stare at the wall.
My sponsor tried to get me to talk to people at meetings but I wasnt able to from anxiety, so he developed this whole plan for me to open up more that took over a year to fully implement.
>first was to just sit in the front row at every meetingThat was all I could manage at first. It was very humbling to see how socially fucked I was.
>then shake the speakers hand and thank them while looking them in the eye after every meeting>then take a commitment at a meeting where I had an announcement>then a commitment at a meeting as a greeter, where I'd shake everyone's hand and welcome them >then sharing once, then twice a week at a meeting about myself>then actually approaching someone new to the meeting I didn't knowAt the end of a year, I was a regular at many meetings, people knew who I was at other meetings from those meetings, I was doing all of those steps at every meeting I was going to, I had a group of friends that I was alright with, and after 14 months sober I even got laid, too. It was super humbling, super uncomfortable, took over a year, but it's paid off in spades and I have a life now I'd never have imagined. This was all while simultaneously doing the 12 steps, which are in themselves transformative.
