Originally Posted by Arbor

I did it! I went to my first meeting! Boy, was I nervous. Heart pounding all the way. Was quite a large crowd actually. I'd say 20 or more people. I didn't know a soul! Thank god. Anyway, I spoke and introduced myself. It went all around the room. All kinds of different folk. We then proceeded to read a chapter from the Living Sober book which I have already read a while back. Chapter nine where it talks about using sweets for cravings. Anyhow, after we read it out loud it was everyone's turn for open discussion. I spoke again.

The best part about it for me was meeting these two guys at the table that have been sober since like '83. They handed me a booklet of all the meetings around the area and personal numbers to call from a bunch of members if I need to. I connected with both pretty well. One guy was actually in the same line of work as I.

The meeting was under an hour. After it was over I spoke with the two gentleman for a while. I asked them if they had done the twelve step program and if it's necessary. Can't I just show up to meetings? They stressed the importance of doing the program. And this was kinda the kicker for me. The one guy spoke about the void. That all human beings are born with that void. We've chosen to fill it with alcohol. How the program is designed to fill that void. That really hit me. I felt that void a lot during those nine months. We've talked about it here in our class.

I donated a dollar in the basket before I left. They all want me to come back next week. I still need to digest all this as it was very emotional day. I contemplated going ALL day. Really came down to the wire for me and now I'm just exhausted. But I'm so glad I went. The next meeting will be so much easier.

Goodnight everyone!