Finally. First AA meeting...
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 21
Finally. First AA meeting...
I posted a few backs about my hesitation in going to an AA meeting. I would get to the door...And walk right past. I would call up for meeting times then get cold feet and find something else to do.
Today i called intergroup at 6:25pm, got an open meeting starting at 6:30pm that was less than 5 minutes from my job. I had to do it. I did. It was great.
The higher power stuff is still very abstract and a bit over my head for now; although i sort of get it.
What i loved, and knew i would,was being in the company of people with a similar struggle. Up until what has been the most helpful to me is reading the experiences of others in books so this just seems to build on that.
Some of the speakers were great, some not so great, but i still was able to get something out of everything that was said and each thing i "got" seemed to help me "get" something of my own a little better.
So far this seems like a far an away better option than what i have been doing up until this point. And the price cannot be beat!
Thanks all
c
Today i called intergroup at 6:25pm, got an open meeting starting at 6:30pm that was less than 5 minutes from my job. I had to do it. I did. It was great.
The higher power stuff is still very abstract and a bit over my head for now; although i sort of get it.
What i loved, and knew i would,was being in the company of people with a similar struggle. Up until what has been the most helpful to me is reading the experiences of others in books so this just seems to build on that.
Some of the speakers were great, some not so great, but i still was able to get something out of everything that was said and each thing i "got" seemed to help me "get" something of my own a little better.
So far this seems like a far an away better option than what i have been doing up until this point. And the price cannot be beat!
Thanks all
c
Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: The Trenches, Texas
Posts: 778
In response to the "not so good" speakers...AA is like a garage sale, you don't have to buy everything, go there, pillage through all the fecies, and in the end leave with what you think is best for you. No, this does not qualify as an excuse for half measures nor step skipping, lol.
FREAKING AWESOME!
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Paris KY
Posts: 255
I was afraid to go to my first meeting as well and I am so glad that I went now!! I have a home group, they are a group of crazy fun loving people who actually love and care about me. Now a days, I can tell when I miss a meeting....something just ain't right!!
Good for you and keep coming back!
Good for you and keep coming back!
Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: New Orleans, LA
Posts: 70
I'm thinking about going to my first one, tonight. A nearby one (this evening) is a "Speakers Meeting." However, there is one tomorrow evening referred to as both "Closed (alcoholics only)" and "Newcomers." As inspired as I am to go this evening, If I want to sit around and listen to one person's story, I can skip putting on pants and just pick any of valuable threads here.
To be clear, I am very averse to AA but have reason to believe that my initial (and abysmal) experience with it was at the hands of a particularly zealous group of Christians. I understand the AA disclaimer about it not actually being a specific religion, but I'm not certain that this particular meeting got the memo.
As for a tremendous resistance to the overall idea of capitulating to a higher power, well, I recently received some great advice: You don't have to call him/it by name. You can refer to the coolective power of your group as the 'higher power,' if you wish, so long as you recognize that you just aren't in control of your drinking.
Maybe this advice will work. Perhaps it will not. The question is, what do I hate more? Religion or perpetual shame and anger? Besides, people give and take from their sacred texts all of the time in order to make it work for them. Seriously...who among doesn't know a nutjob who cites only those things in a text which seem to support a political opinion? Conversely, how many ignore said text when it doesn't suit their purposes? So perhaps I can find some wiggle room in the Big Book, or whatever they hand out.
Make no mistake: My humanism is one of my most cherished and impassioned positions. It's not easy for me to subvert my own mental makeup. At the same time, it's not easy for me to continue drinking until I die of some freak personal accident or renal failure. In the end, this is a fairly easy choice and I STRONGLY suggest that some of you more 'resistant' folks at least give it a shot. It's not like they're handling snakes or anything...
To be clear, I am very averse to AA but have reason to believe that my initial (and abysmal) experience with it was at the hands of a particularly zealous group of Christians. I understand the AA disclaimer about it not actually being a specific religion, but I'm not certain that this particular meeting got the memo.
As for a tremendous resistance to the overall idea of capitulating to a higher power, well, I recently received some great advice: You don't have to call him/it by name. You can refer to the coolective power of your group as the 'higher power,' if you wish, so long as you recognize that you just aren't in control of your drinking.
Maybe this advice will work. Perhaps it will not. The question is, what do I hate more? Religion or perpetual shame and anger? Besides, people give and take from their sacred texts all of the time in order to make it work for them. Seriously...who among doesn't know a nutjob who cites only those things in a text which seem to support a political opinion? Conversely, how many ignore said text when it doesn't suit their purposes? So perhaps I can find some wiggle room in the Big Book, or whatever they hand out.
Make no mistake: My humanism is one of my most cherished and impassioned positions. It's not easy for me to subvert my own mental makeup. At the same time, it's not easy for me to continue drinking until I die of some freak personal accident or renal failure. In the end, this is a fairly easy choice and I STRONGLY suggest that some of you more 'resistant' folks at least give it a shot. It's not like they're handling snakes or anything...
Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 413
Originally Posted by nolaspiral 
It's not like they're handling snakes or anything...
Thanks for the laugh!
I was really scared to go to my first AA meeting. But I'm so glad I went. It wasn't anything like church at all.
It was a huge relief to finally discover people like me.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: New Orleans, LA
Posts: 70
Originally Posted by Clutch B
Thanks for the laugh!
I was really scared to go to my first AA meeting. But I'm so glad I went. It wasn't anything like church at all.
It was a huge relief to finally discover people like me.
For any religious folks reading this, how might you feel were you told to reject a core belief, and that it was the only path to success? Unsurprisingly, I balked.
I'll lie about my drinking to loved ones. I'll lie to seem more attractive to the opposite sex. Heck, my resume is a veritable den of lies. But I can't lie to myself. Not that I won't...I can't.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: nj
Posts: 541
Originally Posted by skolc
I posted a few backs about my hesitation in going to an AA meeting. I would get to the door...And walk right past. I would call up for meeting times then get cold feet and find something else to do.
Today i called intergroup at 6:25pm, got an open meeting starting at 6:30pm that was less than 5 minutes from my job. I had to do it. I did. It was great.
The higher power stuff is still very abstract and a bit over my head for now; although i sort of get it.
What i loved, and knew i would,was being in the company of people with a similar struggle. Up until what has been the most helpful to me is reading the experiences of others in books so this just seems to build on that.
Some of the speakers were great, some not so great, but i still was able to get something out of everything that was said and each thing i "got" seemed to help me "get" something of my own a little better.
So far this seems like a far an away better option than what i have been doing up until this point. And the price cannot be beat!
Thanks all
c
Today i called intergroup at 6:25pm, got an open meeting starting at 6:30pm that was less than 5 minutes from my job. I had to do it. I did. It was great.
The higher power stuff is still very abstract and a bit over my head for now; although i sort of get it.
What i loved, and knew i would,was being in the company of people with a similar struggle. Up until what has been the most helpful to me is reading the experiences of others in books so this just seems to build on that.
Some of the speakers were great, some not so great, but i still was able to get something out of everything that was said and each thing i "got" seemed to help me "get" something of my own a little better.
So far this seems like a far an away better option than what i have been doing up until this point. And the price cannot be beat!
Thanks all
c
Are you done? I mean DONE.
If you really aren't, I have bad news,what goes inside that meeting ain't gonna mean much.
If you are, I have good news. You can stay done. Just ask anybody in that room;they will tell you how to it, or refer you to somebody who can
Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Fawnskin CA
Posts: 9
Originally Posted by skolc
I posted a few backs about my hesitation in going to an AA meeting. I would get to the door...And walk right past. I would call up for meeting times then get cold feet and find something else to do.
Today i called intergroup at 6:25pm, got an open meeting starting at 6:30pm that was less than 5 minutes from my job. I had to do it. I did. It was great.
The higher power stuff is still very abstract and a bit over my head for now; although i sort of get it.
What i loved, and knew i would,was being in the company of people with a similar struggle. Up until what has been the most helpful to me is reading the experiences of others in books so this just seems to build on that.
Some of the speakers were great, some not so great, but i still was able to get something out of everything that was said and each thing i "got" seemed to help me "get" something of my own a little better.
So far this seems like a far an away better option than what i have been doing up until this point. And the price cannot be beat!
Thanks all
c
Today i called intergroup at 6:25pm, got an open meeting starting at 6:30pm that was less than 5 minutes from my job. I had to do it. I did. It was great.
The higher power stuff is still very abstract and a bit over my head for now; although i sort of get it.
What i loved, and knew i would,was being in the company of people with a similar struggle. Up until what has been the most helpful to me is reading the experiences of others in books so this just seems to build on that.
Some of the speakers were great, some not so great, but i still was able to get something out of everything that was said and each thing i "got" seemed to help me "get" something of my own a little better.
So far this seems like a far an away better option than what i have been doing up until this point. And the price cannot be beat!
Thanks all
c
I'm looking forward to taking a big weight off my shoulders by admitting my wrongs and going forward into a better life. I'm going to struggle with the HP thing for a while but I realise now I have to give it up to something else, because I really, really couldn't do it by myself.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Texas
Posts: 91
Originally Posted by nolaspiral
I'll lie about my drinking to loved ones. I'll lie to seem more attractive to the opposite sex. Heck, my resume is a veritable den of lies. But I can't lie to myself. Not that I won't...I can't.
I really get what you are saying about religion. I consider myself more or less agnostic. I don't know what I believe. I'm still searching with an open mind. My problem isn't that I don't want to believe what I was raised to believe... it's that I can't. There are too many inconsistencies for me.
It's annoying when the super zealous are in your face. Those of us living in the bible belt get that alot.
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