We are not a glum lot

[nandm]

We have shown how we got out from under. You say: "Yes, I'm willing. But am I to be consigned to a life where I shall be stupid, boring and glum, like some righteous people I see? I know I must get along without liquor, but how can I? Have you a sufficient substitue?

Yes, there is a substitue, and it is vastly more than that. It is a Fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom, and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus we find The Fellowship, and so will you.

"How is that to come about?" you ask. "Where am I to find these people?"

You are going to meet these new friends in your own community. Near you alcoholics are dying helplessly like people in a sinking ship. If you live in a large place, there are hundreds. High and low, rich and poor, these are future Fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. Among them you will make lifelong friends. You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey. Then you will know what it means to give of yourself, that others may survive and rediscover life. You will learn the meaning of "Love thy neighbor as theysefl."

What could be more stupid than to kill oneself through excess and addiction? What could be more boring than to be blocked off from God, from our fellows, and from life itself by our attitudes, outlook, and behavior? What could be more glum than the destruction of all things worthwhile in life brought about by alcoholism? We very quickly find our new way of life vastly superior to our old life.

Learning to give of ourselves fills the hole in our spirit caused by our former slothful indifference to our responsibilities and to the welfare of others. The incalculable benefits of self-sacrifice replace the baleful results of selfishness. To awaken spiritually and find fellowship with others united in a great purpose gives us a satisfaction and sense of fulfillment we never dreamed possible.

Quote from the Chapter "A Vision for You" The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous