The Dry Years

Many peoplesober in AA don’t want to talk about relapse. I never cared to talk about it because, after all, I hadn’t relapsed, unless you call that brush with cough medicine at three months sober a relapse (I did change my sobriety date). I especially didn’t want the topic to come up if newcomers were in the room. I never wanted to give the impression that relapse had to be a part of recovery. I was taught early on that I didn’t have to worry about relapse if I was doing what the AA program required. The word was seldom used or discussed in our home group unless some poor unsuspecting newcomer brought up the topic. He/she was soon set straight: “Just do the work, relapse is for slackers.” That was the message relayed over and over again, and often I was the one doing the relaying.