What has been the most meaningful reward of being a Sponsor or having a Sponsor?
Please share your experiences by commenting on the topic below. The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the person who gave them. Take what you liked and leave the rest. Member sharing on the Member Blog may be used in future Al‑Anon publications.
This month we’re asking you to share on what has been the most meaningful reward of being a Sponsor or having a Sponsor?
Make me feel like I’m better
Getting a sponsor saved my life. My son passed away the day before my 40th birthday. April 7th was also my one year anniversary in my program. I went to my first meeting on my 39th birthday. It was the best gift I ever gave myself. My son died April 6 1993. He climbed a ladder of a bunk bed in a furniture store. He fell and hit his head. He was ok all day. I put him to bed, when I went to wake him up he was dead. I wasn’t going to go to my 1 year cake.… Read more »
Working the Steps has helped me to leave my failures of the past in the past. I am no longer weighted down with past sin and worry.
I finally chose a sponsor several months into the program and have since stayed on track to working the steps. I am currently on Step Six and Seven with my Sponsor and I feel very empowered by this. I see my efforts paying off through achieving more serenity in my life and causing less chaos. This program is life changing and my Sponsor and I get to witness this change first hand as we meet weekly. Boundless Gratitude to Al-Anon!!
Having a Sponsor early on helped me, as I had someone I really trusted when I came to the Fifth Step. I was working another program concurrent with Al-Anon and I had worked two Fifth Steps in just over a month. Looking for another Sponsor now but want a service Sponsor as well.
I am so grateful for sponsorship. It is one of the most essential parts of my recovery. My first Sponsor was from a phone meeting. I wasn’t ready to work the program so our relationship sputtered out. When my Higher Power gave me the gift of desperation and I became ready, I went on an email meeting and read everyone’s posts until I saw someone who had healed from something I was still struggling with. I asked her to be my Sponsor because I wanted what she had. I remember being skeptical that someone would be willing to dedicate that… Read more »
I felt important when someone agreed to sponsor me. She was so nice and understood my reluctance to reach out for help.
I’ve had a few Sponsors during my years in Al-Anon. I thought I would find one, and we’d be together for life – like so many people share. Things came up, people got busy, life happened. I am deeply grateful to each woman who has shared her recovery and heart with me. I’ve learned so much from them. I feel like the lucky one. I was given more than one amazing woman who was willing to share her perspective with me. It’s expanded my recovery in ways I couldn’t imagine and increased my circle of love: from them to me,… Read more »
After a couple of failed attempts at working the Steps myself, I finally found a Sponsor to guide me. What a life-saver he was! My recovery journey has never been the same since. Today as I sponsor others, I grow as I guide others through those same Twelve Steps. My how my perceptions have changed!! Go to meetings, get a Sponsor, work the Steps, recover, and do service!
My Sponsor saved my life by introducing me to this program. Her phone number, written on the dog-eared page of the Big Book “To Wives”, delivered to me by the alcoholic after his first A.A. meeting, was exactly what I needed for my own recovery through Al-Anon. I am forever grateful for her sponsorship.
The Sponsor and sponsored person’s relationship is invaluable. I remember 20 years ago asking my Sponsor if she would sponsor me and thinking at the time, “I’m only going to talk about the Steps, I’m not going to share anything personal.” Little did I know that sharing on the Steps was personal. All throughout my years of walking shoulder to shoulder with a Sponsor – sharing, caring, and listening has been an incredible tool.
The ability to have a safe relationship and to be vulnerable together is invaluable. Complete honesty fosters shared vulnerability and rewards both Sponsor and sponsored. Unconditional compassion and understanding opens our hearts to each other and helps each of us grow spiritually, whether I am a Sponsor or the person being sponsored. Truly a gift of a lifetime.
As a newcomer to Al-Anon, the process of getting a Sponsor has been an essential part of my recovery in and of itself. Choosing to trust another human has grounded my Step work. I am learning to set aside my fear of judgment and my own deeply held habit of judging to be effectively engaged in sponsorship.
There are awesome rewards are in the work! So much calm assurance is flowing from Higher Power strength.
The most meaningful thing about being a Sponsor is watching the recovery happen in another person. I watched a determined woman from Poland, whom I had to translate and explain the Steps word for word to help her understand them, completely transform. She had many issues with her daughter moving into her home when she lost her job and she got a restraining order. She loved her but didn’t want her to disrupt the peace she had in her home. As a person who has a Sponsor, from the day I called my Sponsor my friend, she became much more… Read more »
Working with my Sponsor has helped me learn how to have healthy relationships. She taught me what I need to give to a relationship in order for it to grow and develop in a healthy way. I learned how to trust my own intuition about who were trustworthy people. It was difficult at first to be vulnerable and share some uncomfortable feelings with her, but every time I pick up the phone to talk to her, I know I will be listened to and understood. I am very grateful for the Al-Anon program and the Sponsor that has guided me… Read more »
I am blessed to have two wonderful Sponsors who have been with me since the first days I came into the program. Not only did they make me feel welcome in the program, but they took the time to listen to through phone calls and visits outside of the meetings. As they listened to my worries and concerns, they offered hope through sharing their own stories and letting me know how the program had changed their lives. They continue to be my friends, my voices of calm and reason when things get difficult, and I hope that I can offer… Read more »
Having a Sponsor has changed my life for the better. She is the perfect blend of no-nonsense and compassion. She knows exactly how to put me in my place, either gently or through a little tough love. I love having someone who can help me get out of my head and remember my Al-Anon tools. I just got a new partial person to sponsor, and it’s such an honor. I remember telling them about Al-Anon about six months ago, and they reached out to me yesterday. It feels wonderful to know that someone feels comfortable enough to work this program… Read more »
I have not been blessed to Sponsor yet, but I will say when it comes to my Sponsor – she tells me what I need to here. Even if I don’t like it. She has showed me that you get more out of your recovery by doing service work, and being of service.
I am blessed!
Great question. The greatest gift of having a Sponsor, for me, is having a co-pilot on my recovery journey. She holds the light and I get to do the work.
I also have the honor of sponsoring incredible women. The greatest gift in sponsoring is that my Higher Power speaks through me to these women and typically I am the one who needs to hear what I have to say.
Having a Sponsor helps me learn how to include other people in my life as I’m living it. I used to muddle my way through tough situations and not tell anyone about it until months or even years later. I believed I had to figure it out for myself, in part because the people in my life didn’t help me find the best answer for me. They pushed their own solutions onto me and criticized me when their advice didn’t work out. My Sponsor offers suggestions, not advice. If I try a suggestion and it doesn’t work for me, she… Read more »