This blog entry is provided courtesy of Katrina, a wonderful example of sober person deeply committed to her recovery…
Before I got sober, the people closest to me were the people who partied like I did. I’ve heard them referred to as “lower companions.” I sought people who did what I did; and in turn ended up hanging around with some seedy characters. My partying buddies were only interested in getting loaded & how I could contribute to that. Equally, I was only friends with them for the same reasons. I didn’t realize how superficial these relationships were until I got into the rooms of AA.
People in the program reached out to me when I was new and offered friendships that I had never been familiar with. They invited me to hang out after meetings and to go eat. They called me and texted me just to see how I was doing, not in an effort to get anything out of me. I felt comfortable talking to these people about how I really felt because I trusted them and they had experienced everything I was going through. As I stuck around and stayed sober, these people became my best friends.
By staying sober and getting active in AA, I got close with the people my age who were doing the same things in AA. I found young women who had what I wanted spiritually and emotionally and I reached out to them. Because we have all experienced addiction, being new, and getting sober, we have an underlying bond that is hard to explain. In sobriety, my closest girlfriends have carried me through all of life’s ups and downs. They have supported me through breakups, new jobs, deaths, and so much more. In return, I’ve been able to do the same for them. We also get to have so much fun in sobriety with sober events, meetings, and just hanging out with one another. Creating so many beautiful friendships has been a benefit of the program that I didn’t even know I wanted. These friends are such a blessing, and one of the reasons I can stay sober daily.
