Tim wrote:If we are honest about it, we have to admit that our relationships at the time we begin sobriety have gone to hell in a handbasket (Tim immediately raises his hand in the air and waves it around).
Early sobriety is difficult (I've done it many times). We need to do what needs to be done to achieve and maintain sobriety. In AA , that means working the 12 Steps. No relationship is going to work, including the ones that are hanging by a thread (I was married when I got sober), if we don't recover from alcoholism.
Once we have worked the 12 Steps, our relationships tend to improve dramatically, and our ability to engage in meaningful relationships with others, ourselves and our Higher Power, progresses by leaps and bounds.
"First Things First" p. 135 Alcoholics Anonymous
I agree 100%, however i am not to sure there is a "time frame" on what people refer to as " early sobriety" and how long it take to go through the steps to a point where sanity has been returned. It states in the book, right around the 9th step, but it doesnt say how long that takes. This is a program of action, not time. Early sobriety didn't start when I walked into the rooms or even everytime I started over. Early sobriety started when I surrendured and turned my will and life over to the care of a God I understand. My experience, is to never share about time. God will set the table in his time, my job is to do the work.
