Chat Meeting Topic:

Trust

I hear a lot of people say trust was a problem when they first came into Al-Anon. But for me, I had no problem at all with trust. It was simple. I didn't trust ANYBODY!

All the lies, the betrayals, the secrets had broken my heart, and left it hardened. I even made the statement in the rooms that due to my experience, my STRENGTH was that I didn't trust anyone and my HOPE was that I would never have to trust anyone again!

But my higher power had a better plan. I found out that the one I really had to learn to trust was Buddy! After all, it was my "good" judgment that had gotten me into so much trouble in the first place.

There's a quote in the literature that says "Today, I make a commitment to be honest with myself. By facing reality, I become someone I can depend on." It took a while before Buddy became someone that I could trust.

Active alcoholics are not capable of being honest with themselves. Why should I expect them to be honest with me? To do so is placing my expectations way too high.

I know today that to trust in active alcoholics who are lying to themselves is an error in good judgement; it is totally unreasonable. My expectations are not trampled and my hope is no longer crushed by the actions or inactions of others. Today, I can better trust my own judgement. That was not true before Al-Anon.

BuddyT

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