Early sobriety can feel isolating, so we find belonging by choosing a home group, showing up regularly, and letting others get to know us—so we never have to be alone again. Early on, the group can act as a temporary sponsor, offering suggestions and helping us start the Twelve Steps. If a “power greater than ourselves” feels difficult, we can begin with the strength of the group and allow a higher being of our own understanding to emerge over time. Simple service—greeting, making coffee, setting up, reading, or taking roles like Secretary, Chips & Literature, or GSR—builds responsibility, connection, and purpose. Becoming part of a home group helps turn courage into hope, hope into faith, and keeps us coming back, one day at a time.
BECOMING PART OF
It is the common experience for many of us to feel like we didn’t fit in anywhere. Drugs gave us that instantaneous feeling of belonging. When we get sober, that drug-induced feeling of belonging disappears. Finding a group of sober people we can relate to is a new start for us. We go to meetings as often as possible, preferably every day. Before long, we find we are most comfortable at one particular meeting. Because we feel “at home” there, we join the home group and commit to attending regularly. Other home group members get to know who we are, and we get to know them. We never have to be alone again. On a bad day, we find there is usually someone there who understands and who can help us get through it sober.
THE HOME GROUP
As newcomers, we hear the suggestion to get a “home group,” but we aren’t sure why. Many of us have been in isolation for the last months or years of our using. We feel apart from society and need to connect with people who understand. We find those people at meetings of Cocaine Anonymous.