1. What does fully self supporting mean to me? It means that we pay our own way. We do not look to outside agencies to pay for our group. Each of us does our best to contribute equally.
2. How do I support my group? I put in money each week plus I do some service work. Eventually, I will take on a bigger chunk of service work if possible. I have another group that takes a lot of my time. I put both time and money into it. I encourage others to share the cost by paying minimal dues each year as well as asking them to put activities on the calendar.
3. What can I do this week to contibute to the support of my gorup and to myself? I can maintain spending boundaries with the help of God's strength, and I can chip in my usual money each week. I can help with clean up and set up.
4. Do I consider the group needs when I contribute? Am I willing to toss in a little extra to help someone attend a conference etc.? Yes, I put in extra when someone calls for it - not too much because that would lead to someone else being resentful or perhaps my own pride.
5. Do I personally contribute to the WSO triannual appeal? I will when it comes around again. I have supported the group by going to at least one of the annual fund raising events.
6. If members of my group do not understand the triannual appeal, am I willing to explain it? Sure - once I also know exactly what it is about.
7. Does my group pay a fair rent and have enough literature? It seems our rent is fair; we tend to have several copies of pamphlets and books on hand. We just ordered more literature and paid for the GR to go to Seabeck.
8. Do I encourage business meetings for my group? I don't set them up or pay close attention to when, but I do try to stay when I am able. I have attended most of them.
9. In what ways other than financial do I support my group? I set up a retreat for a few people and may try to have a bigger one sometime. I help clean up and sometimes to set up. I am there weekly. I have provided rides on several occasions. I also chair from time to time.
10. What benefits have I received when I volunteer? It is a good feeling to do something for others.
11. How often do we rotate service positions? I believe I heard it was every 3 years, but the GR seems to change more often than that. Chairing changes each week. Do we expect a few people to hold up the rest of us? It does seem to be the same people involved.
12. What could I do to encourage less active members to get involved? Am I as active as I would like to be? I am as active as I can be seeing as how my outdoor group is a huge commitment as are family and work obligations. I tend to stress out if I do much more than this. That said, I feel I "should" be more active. I try to encourage members of the outdoor group to get involved by deliberately not volunteering to host everything. I will help them with ideas and setting up an activity and answer questions. I also solicit ideas from others. Still I find that most people are content to sit back and let others do the work and carry the responsibility. I'm just not letting myself stress out about it anymore. I can try reaching out to individuals, but I feel that often they step up out of guilt; then don't come through. It's a tricky time in society as many just feel overwhelmed already.
13. Do we expect members to use personal funds to purchase coffee and other supplies? I don't believe so.
14. Do I support all parts of Al-Anon? I do go to annual fundraisers and believe those funds are for the wider good of our district and WSO, but I need to get more educated.
15. What does my group do to support district, WSO? We send reps and have people in district positions. We have separate contribution baskets for certain fund drives. What benefits do we get from membership in WSO? We can expect help anywhere we might go.
16. Do I subscribe to the Forum? No. Do I purchase gift subscriptions? No.
17. Does my group have a Treasurer who gives reports? Yes. I hear some reports but am not always at the same meetings. Do we have a prudent reserve? Yes. I have heard Donna talk about it. We are not stockpiling moneys for no reason.
18. Do I understand the spiritual aspects of contributing? Yes. I know it is important to take self responsibility in order to have self respect.
19. Is my self-worth based on how much others need me? No, but I know it is a good feeling to be needed and to feel that people like to be around me so I do believe that in some part my self worth comes from being able to be a blessing to others. I do not encourage others to become dependent on me, though. I try to help them become independent.
20. Am I afraid of letting go? It is a challenge for me. Letting go of worry and the need to fix is challenging, but I want to be free.
21. Do I realized I can't have the respect of others if I don't stand on my own two feet? Yes. I am overly responsible in this area to the point where asking anything of others is a challenge.
22. Do I contribute to my own well-being? Am I fully self supporting? Do I expect to remain so? I do. I am doing my best to get enough work to maintain independence from others and maintain a prudent reserve in finances. Maintaining boundaries is getting a bit better. I would not call myself self supporting as I need my husband's income to maintain what we have. I feel burdened by stuff and don't really want the big house unless we can share it with compatible others to help pay for it. Trouble is there weren't much cheaper options at the time and I was stuck in the idea I could entertain, etc. with a nice house. I no longer care much about that and wish we weren't house poor.
23. Can I accept and express my feelings to others without feeling bad about it or justifying? I am learning to do this. I would have said no 15 months ago.
24. Do I take responsiblity for my own feelings and not blame them on others? I am improving in this regard also.
25. Is my happiness circumstance dependent or am I looking to myself for fulfillment? I can still get pulled around a bit by the desires and feelings of others, but I am working toward freedom from this and self growth by the help of God.
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