Originally Posted by 1Marty
This meeting was different than the other disscussion meetings I have been to. [....snipped for brevity...] Could I have finally found my home group?
Hi Marty and welcome!
Yes, this is a "speaker meeting" aka "lead discussion"... Where, after the traditional readings, one person shares her/his story on what happened, what it was like and what it's like now. The speaker usually is thought to be sharing their experience, strength and hope, while these meetings - I have all been too - are *Open* meaning anyone can attend, the audience listens to the speaker's story. ["Closed" of course meaning that if you have a desire to not drink.]
I think these meetings were important to me particularly in earlier sobriety so that I could identify myself in these "speakers", helping me to confirm or not that I am an alcoholic. I remember when I first went to a *regular discussion* meeting I'd look around the room and not think I was an alcoholic.
Some people would share they'd been to prison, others would share they'd done drugs, and because table etiquette suggests each person who shares keeps it within a reasonable amount of time [3 minutes or so depending on the size of the meeting] we won't really know enough about them to see maybe where our similarities rather than differences lie. I think the Lead meetings are good for seeing our similarities.
For me, when I share in a regular discussion meeting, I keep it related to the Big Book or to the steps as it pertains or is pertaining to me, maybe once in a while bring in a current episode happening in my life....but for people new coming in, hearing my sharing maybe in the back of their minds they're thinking, "There's no way she's an alcoholic." [Maybe because I sound so *healthy* and this is where the Speaker Meetings come in... These same people can see what I used to be like and where I came from and how it was that AA came to help me.] It really is about sharing experience, strength and hope.
Regular discussion meetings, for me, is about day to day living and how to apply the steps in my life. I didn't share for the first 9 or so months of my recovery...I had nothing to share, I was frustrated, had tried everything, and it was time for me to sit back, relax, and listen to those who came before me on how they did it.
Welcome!
Digits