My Best Days – How It Works for Me – Chef Wendy’s Recipe for Recovery
The point is, it does work. That saying you hear the group chant at the end of every meeting is true, “It works if you work it!” It works with a unique blend of principles, steps, meetings, service — mix a variety of portions that all come together like a home-made-with-love delicious, and savored meal. Wendy Plachek Chelsey, a Stepping Stones Alumnus, and remarkable woman in recovery offers us her hearty Recipe for Recovery! Wendy has been living in sobriety one day at a time for four years now — happy, joyous and free. She has a job she enjoys, healthy relationships, but most of all – a connection to her Higher Power. Follow instructions carefully if you’re ready for a change in your life, if you’ve got nothing to lose, or if you are considering a new perspective.
My Best Days Recipe
by Wendy Plachek Chelsey, a Stepping Stone Alumna Serves 4 (years in recovery) 
- 12 doses (1 from each Step)
- 1 happy thought for each grace in your life
- A heap of readings from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous
- 1 Sponsor
- A hand full of Sponsees
- 4-5 Meetings per week
- 3-4 Calls to another alcoholic (or as many as it takes, minimum of 1)
- 1 Service Commitment
- 2 Hands, full of Prayer
- Prayer + Gratitude My best days start with a morning prayer and a thought of the things in my life for which I am grateful. To me it is a daily reminder that I am powerless over my disease, and that I cannot do this by myself. So I make a repeated decision to turn my life over to God (my higher power).
- Work with a Sponsor Having a good sponsor is vital to my recovery. Early on in my recovery, I wasn’t willing to listen or do the work necessary to see the promises of this program. I blamed it on my sponsor but instead of finding a new one, I used that as an excuse to pull away from the program. If you find yourself in a situation where you aren’t able to work with a sponsor, don’t give up – call. Keep calling down the list, try sponsorship again with someone else until you are able to find your match. Also, be honest with yourself. Your sponsor is your guide; they can’t do the work for you. YOU have to take action to make the program work for you.
- 12 Steps, Work ‘Em! This is where you mix in the steps, one at a time and in order. Be sure to fully commit and accept Step 1 before moving on to Step 2. It is the foundation that glues the pieces of your recovery together. When I forget that I am powerless, or start to think that I can “manage” this on my own, it is a recipe for disaster!
- Meetings ‘n Readings A consistent blend of meetings, reading the Big Book, and working with my sponsor and sponsees are the core ingredients of my recovery. Through working the steps with my sponsor, she helps me with life’s problems, big and small.
I love that I have someone I can call anytime and know that she is there for me and loves me without question.
- Carry the Message When working with sponsees, I not only have the opportunity to introduce someone new to the program, I’m reminded why I’m here. I seem to find a new perspective and I’m able to learn and grow each time I help someone.
- Serve It Up! I have helped with service work sporadically in the past – making coffee, chairing meetings, speaking at treatment centers – but recently made a commitment to a service position which has fueled my fire for this program. I count myself so lucky to have met these people. It’s truly the icing on the cake to be able to help others, have fun and make friends all at the same time.
