Country Club

These are what are commonly referred to as the 9^th step promises, directly quoted from Google, which took them from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

 

1. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.

2. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.

3. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.

4. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.

5. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.

6. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.

7. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.

8. Self-seeking will slip away.

9. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.

10. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.

11. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.

12. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

Alcoholics Anonymous p83-84

Reprinted from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous with permission of A.A. World

 

This has been my personal experience, as well as that of millions of others who have worked their way through the steps. Right at the end it states that all of the promises will come true at some point, as long as we do the work. In my last post, I related to you in great detail how challenging and rewarding some of that work can be. Today I can tell you that it was because of that along with everything else I do in recovery, I did very well in an interview today.

I am who I am because of these steps; there is no question about that. And it is with great confidence because of what I have become that I walked into the Lafayette Country Club on Lake Minnetonka today for a nearly two-hour interview, and got a job that is more of a career-move that anything else. Levy Restaurants at the Xcel Center was a resume builder, but Lafayette is a place where I will have paid vacation, benefits, a bigger salary than I have ever had anywhere, and great opportunity for advancement.

This job is no joke. I will have to bring my game to an entirely different level, and impress upon my coworkers and bosses that I am capable of producing quality food at a high rate of speed. I’m a little nervous, but I think I’m more excited to have moved up to “the country club” level.

I haven’t worked a day in about three weeks, so this will be a welcome change from the monotony of doing nothing, and receiving seasonal unemployment. It will, however, take up most of my summer with six-day workweeks. I know that seems excessive—it’s what I was doing at Levy—but it is standard for the industry and I am capable of doing it, and I will have more time off in the winter.

That’s all I’ve got for today. I’m going to enjoy this weather while I can. Bye!