Seventh Tradition

All of us in recovery know about the twelve steps but ETA also has twelve traditions, too. It has been said that the steps teach us to live with ourselves clean and sober and the traditions teach us to live with the rest of society clean and sober. Of course the most important thing is for us to be free from drugs and alcohol so after we've worked the twelve steps (with a sponsor) we might want to consider looking the traditions over and figure out how to apply them in our daily lives, too.

Believe it or not, I have very strong opinions about the ETA traditions and especially about tradition seven which states, in part: We ought to be fully self supporting declining outside contributions. What surprises me (well, OK, maybe I'm not all that surprised) is how many people think this is only about money. It is about finances but finances aren't the only thing we need for support.

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous tells us that we simply do not stop boozing and using so long as we place dependence upon others ahead of dependence upon a Higher Power. It doesn't say anything about money here. What it says to me is that I'd better find a Higher Power (HP) that I can understand and with Whom I'm willing to spend time. How do I establish contact with the old HP? By listening to others explain how they established contact. Where are these people I need to listen to? They are (gasp!!) at ETA meetings. Once I get connected to the old HP, I need to maintain this connection. Then I'm self supporting through my my own contributions (aka: it's my job to keep connected). For me, I find that my connection is like elastic and I sometimes drift farther away from Him than I ought. If I can't get close again on my own, I ask for help from ETA members. HINT: Asking for the help I need is part of being self supporting.

I also learn how to be self supporting through working the steps with a sponsor and learning how to live the steps in my daily life. Eventually, I can do this without holding my sponsors hand 24/7 but first, I've got to learn how. Knowing that I can't teach myself and asking for help is how I become self supporting. When I stumble or come up against a situation I don't know how to handle, I ask for help from my sponsor and/or other ETA members. This is how I remain fully self supporting.

Working with others is also necessary to being self supporting. I fortify my own sobriety when I help another person build their own. I also know that I need the support of other alcoholics and drug addicts to stay clean and sober. If I don't teach newcomers what I know then I run the risk of ETA becoming extinct. I'm too selfish for that! I need those people! There will always be people with boozing and using problems. When they come through the doors of ETA I better see them as new recruits and offer them all the tools of recovery that I know. Since I don't know who is going to stay clean and sober I'm available to help all of them. This is CYA 101.

Since there are rich people in ETA I know that money won't keep me clean and sober. For me, this means that I'm going to have to be self supporting in a lot of areas, not just finances. So I better figure out what I need to know and do in order to fully support myself. And I'd better understand that fully self supporting doesn't mean isolation or that I have to go the distance alone.

Have a good and sober day.