I am moving to Liverppol soon and i have decided to finally pluck up the courage to join aa. I have been sober for nearly a year now and have been thinking about joining aa for a long time now. As i a am moving away from home i think i will need support even more to keep me on the straight and narrow. Previously, while at home i have had the support of my Dad, who is a recovering alcholic. Who i have been able to chat with, i finally plucked up the courage to mention 2 him about aa and he recommended i should join. I feel this is this next step for me! I have herd about open/closed meetings and step meetings and just would like to no more info about aa and your thoughts and stories!
Welcome to the forum and the AA program. I have been sober in AA since 84' and has been a great way of life and I am blessed with many friends from the rooms.
I think you will find the fellowship a great place to connect with people, stay sober and help others along the way.
I also moved away from my family and friends about 10 years ago, I almost instantly found a new host of great friends.
I would suggest going to a lot different meetings at first, so you can figure out the groups you like the best, go consistantly to the meetings you like so people get to know you and you them.
Take Care, Rob
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
It's a great, supportive community. Almost everyone was really nervous going to their first AA meeting, so everyone will have sympathy for you and probably be very welcoming. You don't have to say anything at your first meeting (although later on, sharing with others is a huge part of the value of the meetings) -- here in the U.S. they will usually ask any newcomers to introduce themselves at the beginning, so don't be too surprised by that. If you are really intimidated, you don't need to raise your hand, but people who don't recognize you may come up to you after the meeting to say hello and introduce themselves, maybe give you their phone numbers.
Congratulations on taking this great first step. Also, if it's more comfortable for you, at least in the U.S. there are usually lots of single-sex-only meetings. I like that environment and generally attend women-only meetings.
It takes a lot of guts to go to your first meeting. I had to get a friend to go with me to mine and I probably wouldn't have walked in the door if she hadn't been there to force me. Let us know what your experience is like when you get back.
You can expect new friends, miracles & a program to bring a life beyond your wildest dreams. My home group is Wednesday noon at Mildmay House. Come & meet your fellowship in Liverpool. We're here for you any way we can help. Recovery love, Danielle, Carl & Stephen! :)
-- Edited by Sobrietyspell on Wednesday 23rd of June 2010 01:25:03 AM
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Progress not perfection.. & Practice makes Progress!
Congratulations on a year sober! AA is not what I expected. The program has allowed me to grow and develop in ways that have led to a different life that is full and lovely even when it is hard to change. The best thing about it is the "we". I treasure my connections with people made through AA. It's great that you've had someone to support you. If you get to meetings, your circle will widen immesurably, with folks to love support and be true friends.
There are only suggestions and no rules. There are traditions that help establish safe boundaries. People are free to come and go as they please. We are dealing with a serious issue-for the alcoholic sobriety is life and death, but "we are not a glum lot". I can cry if I need to and I get to laugh hard too.
Hi David, Welcome. AA has changed my life more than I could have ever imagined. Enjoy the fellowship and get to a step meeting as soon as you can. God bless, Gonee.
-- Edited by gonee on Wednesday 23rd of June 2010 05:00:40 AM
welcome , its lovely to read you courageous post about joining aa, it is the best thing i have ever done with my life. my dad is also in recovery, and he has helped me so much over the years too, helped me by not pushing me not trying to fix but encouraged me that aa had so much to offer me. its a great feeling having the support and encouragment of family members even better when they have been where you have, i never got away with lying ha ha, i wanted to know how and why do i need these meetings he said come and find out its the only way, im so glad im a member of this fab fellowship today. best of luck to you on your journey!!!!
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life is a journey not a destination peace xx Trace
The Alcoholics Anonymous big book tells you what you can expect from AA if and only if you work the 12 steps. Below are excerpts from the book telling what to expect.
Larry, ---------------------- AA works if you work it.
There is a solution. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.
Big Book page #28:
A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, "a design for living" that really works. Big Book page #46: We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.
Big Book page #47:
As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built.
Big Book page #50:
In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them.
Big Book page #55:
Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us.
Big Book page #57:
Even so has God restored us all to our right minds. But He has come to all who have honestly sought Him. When we drew near to Him He disclosed Himself to us!
[PROMISES OF STEP THREE]
Big Book page #63.
More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn. an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once.
Big Book page #68.
At once, we commence to outgrow fear.
Big Book page #70.
We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on the them as sick people.
[PROMISES OF STEP FIVE]
Big Book page #75:
Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly. We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.
[PROMISES OF STEP EIGHT]
Big Book page #78:
If our manner is calm, frank, and open, we will be gratified with the result. Rarely do we fail to make satisfactory progress..
[ PROMISES OF STEP NINE](The famous ones)
Big Book page #83-84:
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us-sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.
[PROMISES OF STEP TEN]
Big Book page #84
And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone -even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame.
Big Book page #84-85
We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically.
Big Book page #85
We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid.
[PROMISES OF STEP ELEVEN]
Big Book page #86:
we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.
Big Book page #87 :
What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it.
Big Book page #87-88 :
We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.
[PROMISES OF STEP TWELVE]
Big Book page #89 :
You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Life will take on new meaning.
Big Book page #100 :
When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances! Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do.
Big Book page #102 :
God will keep you unharmed.
-- Edited by Larry_H on Wednesday 23rd of June 2010 10:19:27 AM
