Listening is very importantā€”Service experience

Costa del Sol, Spain, 2024

In this report, Chris shares his experience of taking on the role of chairman for the Costa Del Sol convention, highlighting the transformative power of service in Alcoholics Anonymous. With only 18 months of sobriety, he stepped into a challenging service position, guided by the principles of AA, the support of a dedicated committee, and reliance on a Higher Power. Through this experience, Chris reflects on the importance of communication, humility, and applying the Twelve Steps and Traditions in service.Ā 

I took over the role of chairman of the Costa Del Sol convention at 18 months sober. It was incredibly scary to take on this responsibility but with the help of an amazing committee we managed to put on a great weekend for all.

The role of chair is to listen and think logically, delegating roles which you believe would suit each person and I was very lucky that the committee we had working together all suited their roles and gave 110% to their role. The convention committee service positions get a bad name because of the amount of work that is involved, and it is a lot of work but it is by far, the best service position I have held, you get to learn a lot about yourself and other people and also get to meet so many new people. I have made long lasting friendships in my time as chairman. Communication is the most important part of any committee I believe, and remembering that we place principles before personalities. The traditions play a major part in planning for the convention, to remember we are but trusted servants and we do not govern, this certainly helps my ego.

The 12 steps helped me prepare for my role as chairman, my insecurities and fears which I identified in Step 4 tried to hold me back a lot, but through the use of the rest of the steps I was able to face my defects and ask the higher power to guide me in this role.

As I said previously, listening is very important when taking on this role, a lot of people have a lot of ideas and its important to respect them all and as an autonomous group, vote for which idea we believe would work the most. One thing I can say about the role is, you really have to hand over everything to the higher power, because there is an awful lot to do and a lot to think about.

Intergroup on the Costa Del Sol has been very supportive of this convention for a long time and to me personally when I took on the role of chair, offering support and advice on any issue, no matter how many times I phone the chair and treasurer.

If anyone is doubting doing service for a convention, please reconsider. It is an amazing service to be a part of. This year at our countdown, our longest sober was 48 years and our newest sober was 48 hours. It was so emotional to see the old timer give the newcomer the Big Book, and to be part of the organization of the weekend that made that possible is just mind blowing.

My gratitude for life, AA and my sobriety gets stronger when I do service, given back to what was freely given to me, and all I sacrifice is a few Saturdays a year and one weekend, I sacrificed a lot more than that when I was drinking!

ā€“ Chris

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