A Plan for the First Ninety Days

John Springer
Nov 1 · 4 min read

WHITE PAPER Number 14

One out of thirty people walking into the rooms of AA are able to achieve long term sobriety. To get sober and stay sober will take courage and fortitude.

I am going to outline a plan of action for the first ninety days that will give you a chance to get the plug in the jug and begin your sober journey in life. Let us call this approach the Desert Storm approach which means overwhelming force.

People arrive at the doors of AA in different physical and mental conditions. I have listed several action items that you can take to get sober, labeling each action you can take as Roman numeral I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII. In some cases the ravages of alcohol are extreme and maybe the newcomer can only take on No.I, No.II and No.III and will have to wait to undertake No. IV,V,VI,VII and VIII.

Find out at a meeting you like who the group chair is and ask the group chair to help you find a person with long term sobriety and wisdom who can guide you through A Plan for the First Ninety Days.

No. I Go to ninety meetings in ninety days and if you want to increase the probability of success make more meetings than ninety in ninety days. Get a meeting book to plot out the meetings you will go to in the first week and write down the meetings on your calendar. In addition you can also check out the New York Inter-Group Meetings website at https://www.nyintergroup.org/meetings/. Take a journal to the meetings and write down anything you hear in the rooms that you find of interest. Listen without judgement. This is called mindful listening. Raise your hand and count your days to alert the people in the rooms that you are starting the AA journey. You will get advice from members of AA and you will have to evaluate that advice. Follow suggestions that make sense to you. Be careful of people who profess to know the answers who insist that only they know exactly what you must do stay sober. Not all people in the rooms of AA will be helpful to your sobriety journey. Find the meetings you like and continue to go to those meetings until you become known at the meeting. Meeting Makers Make It.

Buy a notebook or journal and begin to write down those thoughts or other ideas that you think may be important.

Note that at the meetings many people will approach you and ask to exchange phone numbers. Do not be startled or put off by this direct approach for your personal information. Alcoholism is a deadly disease and these people (strangers) generally have your best interest at heart. These people want to help you. If you are hesitant to give them your card it is perfectly all right just to take their cards or phone numbers.

No. II At your first meeting get the bookLiving Sober’ which is available to newcomers for free and follow the suggestions in the book. Living Sober contains valuable information on getting sober and staying sober.

No. III First thing every morning say this prayer, God Show Me How to Stay Sober Today. This is a proactive prayer and God will give you answers when you quiet yourself to hear the answers. The more you do this prayer the easier it will be to hear the answers. Whether you believe in God or not has no bearing on this prayer. Just fake It Until You Make It.

No. IV In your journal write down instances when you were powerless over alcohol.

No. V In your journal write down how your life became unmanageable because of alcohol.

No. VI In your journal write down every drug and drink you ingested, smoked, snorted or shot up in the week prior to starting the sobriety journey.

No. VII In your journal write down what state you were in before you entered the rooms. For example, this is what I wrote down in my journal; dead fatigue, spent, energy-less, value-less, life without value, without meaning, despair, not wanting to go on, wanting to be dead, unable to stop, body is weary, a sense of failed life, worthlessness, exhausted emotionally and physically, melancholy, unable to marshal any positive energy, not willing to live.

No. VIII When you have reached Ninety Days Start Going Through the Steps with a Sponsor. This Ninety Day Plan will set you up for going through the Steps which you should start with a sponsor immediately after day ninety. A sponsor is someone who takes you through the Steps and answers your questions about The Program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Remember you can change sponsors at any time for any reason or no reason.

John Springer

Written by

John Springer, raised and educated in California, has practiced architecture in New York City since 1969.

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