One of my co-workers is taking these first two weeks of June off from our FLA community and I agreed to help with some of her duties, but there’s one area that makes me extremely uncomfortable to be in. It’s a section where members can ask for coaching support, which is her expertise, but even though I’m coach certified, I haven’t coached in years and it’s uncomfortable to respond to their inquiries.

I’ve been responding with this one member all week and we don’t know one another, so it took us a while to find common ground. After reading his most recent comment, I was relieved to see we’re finally on the same page. My responses are different from my co-workers because I didn’t try to be their coach. I decided to be myself and share my experience, strength and hope. This is one of the gifts sobriety has given me.

Thursday morning, I joined an online AA meeting, and it’s quickly become one of my favorites. A woman invited me to this meeting about a month ago and she texted Thursday morning in hopes I’d be there. I told her it was in my calendar with reminders blazing, because that’s what I do when something is important enough to not miss. She was concerned that half of the regular attendees wouldn’t be there, but I wasn’t bothered. In AA, you only need two people and a big book to hold a meeting.

When I joined the meeting, she was there along with one other person, so it was just the three of us. My friend began explaining that there are usually more people, but some couldn’t be there that day. The young man didn’t mind and revealed he was newly sober in celebrating day 7 without a drink. I was so impressed that he remained in such an intimate gathering, because the majority won’t, especially a newbie.

A couple of more came onto the zoom, so we had a solid meeting, but most want to join a large meeting to get lost in the crowd. We’ve had people pop into this meeting and suddenly leave after seeing so few people, but I enjoy that the group is small. When it’s small, everyone has a chance to share, but when the meeting has 20 people, or more, there’s a 2-minute timer running during each share.

There’s no depth in a 2-minute share, but during this meeting we all spoke for at least 10 minutes and even the newcomer shared. Life will put us in uncomfortable situations, but letting ourselves be seen offers more value than getting lost in the crowd.