Newcomers from other Twelve Step fellowships often have questions about what bottom lines are in SLAA and how to follow them. SLAA differs from many other fellowships in that each person sets their own bottom line behaviors. Compare SLAA to Alcoholics Anonymous for example. In AA, the bottom line is typically to stop drinking, and any drinking at all is constituted as a bottom-line breach, and sobriety in the program would be reset if a member were to drink. In SLAA, each person sets their own bottom lines of personal behaviors they want to manage or remove from their lives. These behaviors are typically sorted into “acting out” and “acting in” behaviors that isolate us from other people.

Does this mean that SLAA members seek to stop having sex and love in their lives at all? Absolutely not! Bottom lines are behaviors which each person decides are unhealthy for them, and only they can decide that. Each person can have as many bottom lines as they need, anywhere from one to twenty may be typical for each SLAA member. Oftentimes, abstinence from some behaviors are required for awhile in order to facilitate recovery, which can be reintroduced later after a certain period of time. Talk to your sponsor or other trusted members and consult SLAA literature for further details.