Well-Ventilated?

Are you? Bill Wilson was…

The Language of The Heart reveals what Bill says about his fourth and fifth steps on page 239;

“Step Four and Step Five, dealing with self-survey and confession of one’s defects, have not been overly difficult, either.

Of course, my self-analysis has frequently been faulty. Sometimes I’ve failed to share my defects with the right people; at other times, I’ve confessed their defects, rather than my own; and at still other times, my confession of defects has been more in the nature of loud complaints about my circumstances and my problems.

Nevertheless, I think I’ve usually been able to make a fairly thorough and searching job of finding and admitting my personal defects. So far as I know, there isn’t at the moment* a single defect or current problem of mine which hasn’t been discussed with my close advisors. Yet this pretty well-ventilated condition is nothing for self-congratulation. Long ago I was lucky enough to see that I’d have to keep up my self-analysis or else blow my top completely. Though driven by stark necessity, this continuous self-revelation – to myself and to others – was rough medicine to take. But years of repetition has made this job far easier.”

So – does any of this sound familiar? You are not alone!

* Bill was about to celebrate 24 years of sobriety.