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<\/a>\u201cThe literature can be used to hit people over the head or to be shared directly at one person,\u201d he says. \u201cIn that way, it hurts more than it helps.\u201d<\/p>\nThat can feel yucky, like dude is talking down to us. But maybe, if we check our ego, we\u2019re open to the possibility that he is saying exactly what we need to hear that day.<\/p>\n
So I ask you this: When you\u2019re at a meeting, do you get more from people who share their experiences or people who share out of the literature?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an easy one for Alvin G., 23, of Bordeaux, an electrician with two years clean and sober.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m there, I wanna hear something somebody went through, not something somebody else read,\u201d Alvin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanna hear how they\u2019re making it. I get more out of people who are working the program, living the program, not reading about the program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Oh snap!<\/p>\n
John B. of Bellevue, who has eight years clean, agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy opinion, I\u2019ll say, I think some people take (12-step recovery) as kind of a religious thing; they study that book to throw out quotes,\u201d John says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not important to me. What\u2019s important to me, what\u2019s your experience? How did you get through it? The pure thumper is just too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
But wait, it\u2019s not just old men who quote the literature.<\/p>\n
Lauren O., a 24-year-old with two years clean and sober, shares out of her fellowship\u2019s book nearly every time she speaks at a meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely feel like the solution is in the book,\u201d Lauren says. \u201cPeople stick to what the book says, and they stay sober.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like there\u2019s a lot of power in the book. I have bits and pieces memorized, and I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bellevue\u2019s Mark H., with 16 months clean and sober, says there are times he needs to hear directly from literature in a meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, you gotta go back to the basics on those days,\u201d Mark says, \u201cit\u2019s great to have people who are like your third grade teacher because that\u2019s what you need.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s a consensus, it\u2019s this: A combination works best for folks I talked to for this blog. It\u2019s really cool when people can take what they learned from the literature and talk about how they actually apply it in their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I get the most from a combination of the two,\u201d Josh C. says. \u201cI don\u2019t think one is more important than another.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s used in a loving way, the literature can be used to redirect the group back to recovery talk. I identify with the literature but I may not identify with everyone\u2019s share.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jamie J., 27, with five years clean, says she learns literature best when it\u2019s mixed with experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can quote the literature appropriately and it hits home and you\u2019re not just reading out of a book, and it makes your point, great,\u201d says Jamie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s pertinent, it makes it more real,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s how I got the literature, when people relate it to their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandie R., a West End area resident with a year clean, agrees with Josh that the literature relates to everyone in recovery.<\/p>\n
But Brandie is more affected when she hears experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like hearing from somebody like myself, a chronic relapser who never told anyone she\u2019s a chronic relapser, I can relate better to that person sharing their experience on relapsing. It\u2019s more personal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho likes to say, \u2018I have a problem\u2019? Not me. But it makes me feel safer, helps me be more vulnerable when someone else shares their problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OK, recovery brothers and sisters, we\u2019ve all been to that meeting where the (usually old) guy starts quoting out of our fellowship\u2019s main book. In fact, it seems that all that guy does at meetings is read out of the literature \u2013 and never shares about himself. Some call \u2018em \u201cbook thumpers,\u201d similar to Bible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}