Originally Posted by KiKi0615

Hmmmm...The positives of AA:

1. The people are super nice and truly understand me. It's like they are from MY planet! (I had to try lots of meetings until I found a few I really like).
2. There are many different types of meetings-a. speaker meetings (people tell their recovery stories which gives me hope) b. Discussion meetings where you can bring up topics of things you need help with c. Literature meetings/big book studies
3. I like face to face in addition to SR for extra support.
4. People give out their phone #'s and if you need them you can call. :-) They seem to always want to help.
5. The 12 steps help me get rid of all the crap in my head that makes me want to drink! I get to work through all my resentments with my sponsor (who was right where I was once) and get rid of all my shame and guilt.
6. There are AA meetings in every country in the world including cruise ships so I always have support.
7. The Big Book is a really great book and explains why I drank. I swear someone wrote it for ME! Haha. I had an obsession of the mind and an allergy of the body and unless I work through all the "reasons" I drank, I will surely drink again or substitute something else to fill the void. I believe that!
8. I have seen miracles! Hopeless alcoholics who were near death & had lost everything recover. That in itself gives me hope.
9. I personally think it's just good support and extra reassurance. Alcoholism is relentless so anything I can do to give me extra tools is awesome.
10. I also like it because they have great coffee & snacks & people care about me & give good hugs. They also don't judge me when I cry buckets of tears.
11. We can laugh about things non-alcoholics can't...and as we all know, alcoholics have some great stories. It feels good to laugh.
12. I feel safe in AA. No one judges me, I can be myself.
13. When I see someone come in for the first time and they speak of the horrors of drinking & look like they just left a war, it reminds me of why I don't want to go back to drinking.

So those are some of the things I like about AA personally. Different things work for different people but for "me", a combination of SR, AA, therapy, church, exercise, reading recovery material, eating right, lots of water, deep breathing, meditation, sleep & prayer is working for me.

I am working on the "reasons" I drank. Alcohol was just a bandage for me to cover up a whole lotta pain from my childhood, anxiety, etc. I need to work thru that stuff because for me sobriety is not just about "not drinking". It's about being happy.

"If you take alcohol away from a drunk horse thief you still have a horse thief." -Unknown