Redmayne

This thread touched me, particularly the line ,' I am scared to tell my story to others because i fear ridicule and shame', the one thing common to the illness/disease of alcohol ISM, is that, especially in recovery ,'we're all in this together' to use a phrase currently popular in political circles in the UK, applied to efforts to reduce the national debt.

One of the primary things, evident on this site and in the Fellowship of A.A. is IDENTIFICATION! As drinking alcoholics we all felt, fear, guilt, low self esteem , etc., etc.,'that great loneliness that dwells in the heart of every alcoholic' I think the 'Big Book' says.

So how doyou beat that fear, guilt, loneliness, you look at the posts on this site on the excellent and various forums and you go to A.A. meetings and I guarantee that one day you will either read or hear someone telling your story, and think ,'hey! that happend to me!' and then you are no longer alone and all that fear of ridicule and shame willo go, because you realise, what happened to you, happened to many other people, just like you.

I canalso guarantee that if you told your story on the appropriate forum, you probably find someone else with a story a lot worse than yours.

I can say these things with complete confidence, because I know, like many other people ,'we're all in this together', the 12 suggested steps are there for all of us, not just a select few albeit in one sense it is a 'selfish' programme aimed at the individual, this is, as its title suggests, a Community, and a good one!