Tell stories and how A.A. has helped or hurt you !!!
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Welcome @Metalmoss and congrats on 6 years!
AA has changed my life both mentally and spiritually. I went for my drinking and I stay for my thinking.
At first I was turned off by all the God references but I’m glad I stayed long enough to understand it’s not a religious program. I’ve been part of the program for 4 years now and I’ve made some lifelong friendships.
For those that didn’t find AA helpful, I’d rather they tell us what program has helped them (Smart, Dharma etc). Posting negatively about a program could keep someone from at least trying something that could save their life.
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AA helped me when there wasnt any were else to go to prob before some people on here were born lol , and then there wasnt any internet or mobiles hard to believe but true wish everyone a good and sober xmas
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The way that I feel and think about AA is covered in remarkable coincidence with today’s reading in 24 Hours a Day.
Thought for the Day
We have been given a new life just because we happened to become alcoholics. We certainly don’t deserve the new life that has been given us. There is little in our past to warrant the life we have now. Many people live good lives from their youth on, not getting into serious trouble, being well adjusted to life, and yet they have not found all that we drunks have found. We had the good fortune to find Alcoholics Anonymous and with it a new life. We are among the lucky few in the world who have learned a new way to live. Am I deeply grateful for the new life that I have learned in A.A.?
Meditation for the Day
A deep gratitude to the Higher Power for all the blessings which we have and which we don’t deserve has come to us. We thank God and mean it. Then comes service to other people, out of gratitude for what we have received. This entails some sacrifice of ourselves and our own affairs. But we are glad to do it. Gratitude, service, and then sacrifice are the steps that lead to good A.A. work. They open the door to a new life for us.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may gladly serve others out of deep gratitude for what I have received. I pray that I may keep a deep sense of obligation.
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AA wasnt the first 12 step group i attended. I started my first serioud attempt at quitting drugs at age 21 thru NA and CA. But then slowly started incorporating AA bcuz there was alot more clean and sober time there i found.
AA changed my life. It gave me a sense of purpose where I could begin to be of service. It gave me amazing friends and a sense of community. The Big Book changed my life. Going thru the steps with a sponsor has impacted my life to this day. It not only guided me into a spiritaul connection with a power greater than myself, it also showed me how to live. Bcuz when i came into the program, i honestly didnt how to live day to day without drugs and alcohol. I owe ALOT to AA and the other 12 step programs 
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When I got sober, I was an abject mess. My was dominated by the “hideous four horsemen”(1), Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, and Despair. I was terrified of what might happen the next time I drank, bewildered that I knew I was going to drink anyway, frustrated at every turn, forced to do what my alcoholism and unconquerable craving demanded, and despairing of ever finding any solace, despairing of any ability to change. I was a shivering, frightened small child beset by forces completely outside my control.
I found two things in AA that any successful recovery from addiction requires - hope and a plan.
The hope
Coming into meetings and hearing and experiencing the complete absence of judgement was huge. That acceptance of my past behavior without rejecting me as a person was essential. It is profoundly important for me, for any alcoholic, to identify with the thoughts and feelings, the behavior and consequences that another alcoholic can voice. That identification still brings a physical reaction akin to a sob to me today. I was so relieved that the low down things I had done, the utter despair I felt, had been done and felt by others who were now happy.
Hope grew in me, hope that since AA had “worked” for others just the same as me, that it could possibly work for me. The hope was cemented when I came to understand that “nothing is sacrosanct, and neither is anything imperative”(2) in AA. There were Big Book thumpers, and Jesus jumpers, and quasi-Buddhists and independent thinkers all around me. The common phrase “It works if you work it” has a corollary that I discovered for myself - “If you work it, it works however you work it”.
I had hope that the program could work. I had hope that I did not have to conform to be a member nor to recover from my alcoholism.
The plan
Much of the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” and other AA literature offers specific instructions to get us through a series of steps to attain the “personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism”(3). I took note from those who had gone before me that the 12 steps of the program are presented in a particular order, each building upon the gains of its predecessor. And that attractive quality I experienced in the people who engendered hope in me had grown from following those steps to the best of their ability and in the company of one or more guides.
One of the daily practices I started early in my sobriety was reading and reflecting on the day’s entry in the book “24 Hours a Day”. There are a number of days that are a recap of the steps. That recap describes the steps as the membership requirement (step 1), the spiritual steps (2, 3, 11), personal inventory (4, 5, 6, 7, 11), restitution (9 and 10) and helping others (12). The spiritual steps, I have found, give me the confidence and fortitude to move through the inventory, restitution, and continuity steps. And they are quite simple - find a power greater than yourself to help you get and stay sober, then trust that power completely. And as they say in AA, it is simple but not easy.
I held onto a message I was given on my last day of drinking “Everything is going to be alright. You will be able to stop drinking now.” That message stayed in my subconscious for quite some time before it became a conscious recall and cornerstone of my faith and my recovery. And trusting the power behind the message, in a complete surrender, is still an ongoing journey for me.
Personal inventory, taking responsibility for past acts and the current wellbeing of others in my orbit, and making amends (not merely apologizing but taking concrete actions to fix and change the hurt) are impossible for me to accomplish alone. I need the influence, the support of that higher power. And most often, I encounter a universal spirit that seems to permeate me and you and all people. When I am part of a very great whole, then the shame I feel for my past acts and the petty selfishness I experience today evaporate. I recognize my proper role, that there even is a proper role for me in the universe, in the Divine. There is a way I ought to be, there is an excellence that I and I alone can become for others around me. Being part of a whole, I am aware of the other parts all around me. Have you ever seen a swarm of birds (a murmuration, so-called because of the sound of wings and soft calls) darting and turning in the sky as if they are one body? They can fly like this, stay in a body without collisions, by focusing on its neighbors immediately in front and to the sides. When I am aware of how I fit into the Divine pattern in my own small space, the whole Divinity can exist without flying apart.
Finally, while the steps of AA are essential to many recoveries, they are often not sufficient of themselves. And unfortunately, there may be zealots who insist otherwise. In my experience, yoga, running, swimming, biking, music, exposure to Sikhism, the principles of Stoicism and the contemplation of death are all essentials of my contented wellbeing.
There are some characteristics of AA that will determine how helpful it can be to any seeker. First, though, the seeker must be ready with an open mind. Walls of denial will withstand any logic, any emotional appeal. The tiniest cracks in that wall are all that is needed to begin.
You are no longer alone.
You do not every have to drink again.
The way of faith is not restricted to AA.
AA has no monopoly on sobriety.
AA does not require that you believe anything.
The men and women of AA have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. (4)
(1) Alcoholics Anonymous, page 151
(2) Grapevine Magazine, January 2024, page 18 Little Surrenders, by Bill the Shirt
(3) Alcoholics Anonymous, page 567
(4) Alcoholics Anonymous, page xiii
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I was scared of AA. So i started online with my camera off. Slowly got comfy with a regular 2pm. I would introduce myself every which way besides hi im cjp and im an alcoholic. After a few weeks of identifying and relating to others shares i came to admit outloud that i am an alcoholic. It was such a relief.
I leaned on the program for guidance and distraction. At 60 days i found a sponsor and started working the 12 steps. It wasnt easy but it truly changed me for the better.
I now have 600+ days sober after 20 years of problem drinking and it has been amazing to see the AA promises come true for me
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Welcome Derek.
I am so glad to be sober today because for a lot of years I wasn’t sober anywhere. I was so tired of feeling like shit, going to jail, losing $, time and near my wits end with a bucket of the fuckits wanting to just not be alive. Got pretty dark some days.
The program of AA gave me a way to not feel like I had to drink anymore. It has also given me a desire to do better, be honest always, love myself and give freely to others. And in working a program I was able to let go of my stinkin’ thinking and live life happy, joyous and free.
I’m not a special alcoholic/addict and neither is anyone else. We just are.
It works, therefore I do my best to work it daily.
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