Silvy69

I am learning that I have strangers that care more about me than people that I have known for years... This makes me both sad and happy at the same time. I find so much comfort in AA that making to meetings is something that I look forward everyday. I am learning so much about me and I am not scared anymore of being alone.... I was alone when I was drinking even though I was around people drinking all the time.. In Sobriety I don't feel alone anymore because of the tools I have... I do have my moments but they are far less than when I was hungover...
I had a bad day which became a very good lesson in my sobriety...

Ptcapote

Hi Silvy, great post and I know just how you feel. I was terrified, absolutely terrified, of AA. For me it meant that it was "real" because people who didn't have drinking problems did not find themselves in AA. Plus all the other stuff like not being religious, etc.

AA has helped me stay sober for six months now and a HUGE part of that is the friends I have made there. I avoided sobriety for so long because I equated it with a complete loss of my social life (like sitting in my house alone night after night downing bottles of wine was so very social) and I did not trust non-drinkers at all. As a matter of fact, I was openly hostile towards them sometimes.

So imagine my surprise that I have had more laughs, more fun, and more genuine heartfelt and compassionate relationships (friendships) with people who I have met through the program in the last six months than I did for at least the last two or three years of my drinking.

One of the best gifts of sobriety so far for me. Glad you're finding it that way too.

Congrats on your continued sobriety!!

Grungehead

I went to a meeting tonight, and after the meeting I said hello to another guy who shared something similar to what I shared. We ended up talking for 15 minutes. When I walked outside there was a guy who shared something I really related to so I told him that I could really relate to what he shared. We ended up talking for 15 minutes. It was like I got 3 meetings for the price of 1.

Keep up the good work Silvy! I always feel good coming out of a meeting, even if I had a bad day. Consider it a jump start on a good day tomorrow.

BarbieKen

Silvy so nice to read your post tonight. I,too, know the feeling. I love my friends in the Program. The common experiences we share, the knowing chuckles, the true caring, no hidden agenda, I definetly feel at home. Bobbi

LuLu13

Argh, I wish I could get that feeling out of AA but it hasn't happened for me. I know it is probably me...

Ironman9292

Ive really been considering AA and after reading these posts I think im going to check into it. Im on day 23 now and am feeling pretty good physically however the insomnia and anxiety has come back full force tonight. I have basically been doing this alone this time except for SR. I mean I do have some support from my family but they dont understand alcoholism and I don't have any friends that aren't drinking buddies. I had to basically cut all my friends loose and my siblings as well. I didn't feel that I was strong enough to hang around the same crowd and not drink.

I know nothing about AA other than what I have read here on SR. How would I find out about AA in my area? Im guessing google would be a good start or is there a website? Thanks is advance!!

LuLu13

You can search for meetings in your area here:

Alcoholics Anonymous : HOW TO FIND A.A. MEETINGS

Silvy69

Thanks everyone. Iron you don't have to do it alone... Give AA a try and if it isn't for you try another group ... There is plenty of support out there. I started with a few meetings and now I attend 9 a week... By choice of course because I like what I am hearing. Also it keeps me from feeling lonely and bored... I think this is the first time in a very long time that I don't feel lonely and hope is coming back. Alcohol made me so empty inside, all my dreams and desires and plans for the future were fading fast. I didn't care ... I felt expired! Slowly I am getting it back... I too have insomnia but it is getting better... Anxiety which was caused by the alcohol is mostly gone.. Repetitive thoughts that made me crazy are mostly gone... Which was the dwelling .... I take baby steps... I listen to what members have to say... And the advice. These people care about my sobriety..

heath480

Pleased for you silvy.I avoided AA for years,even though I knew nothing much about it.Eventually I became desperate and went,I have been going back ever since.I love everything about the fellowship.

bookmaven

The first few AA meetings I tried were a complete turn off for me. I had no interest in sitting there listening to old timers reminisce about drunken war stories of yesteryear. Blah blah blah, not helpful to me at all. Then I learned that there are different types of AA meetings. Step study meetings, speaker meetings, big book study meetings, it's-a-brand-new-day meetings at 6 am, Saturday-Night-Live meetings at 10 pm, way more than I can list here. I personally had to try about 8 different meetings before I found a meeting format I could relate to, with people I felt comfortable with but there are hundreds of different meetings in my area to try.

I actually look forward to that meeting instead of finding excuses not to go.

Hope that helps. Take care

Louise82

This is exactly how I feel, word for word. I'm 38 days back and the more time I spend in AA and working the steps this time round, the more I wonder if it's is because the people in AA who are kind and loving to me have worked the 12 steps and have therefore had the psychic change that a lot of non-addicts also need but don't realise they need?

Or maybe it's because our fellow alcoholics can emphasise with us and know what we're going through and how hard it can be. So they want to help us and they feel for us.

I guess it doesn't really matter. I just continue to be both shocked by and grateful for people who seem to care for me and genuinely love me and go out of their way to help me even though they barely know me.

Silvy69

They say sometimes the best meetings are before and after the meeting.. That is why I always arrive early and stay late

Cormat

Making friendships was one of the last things I considered that I would get from AA but it is true. I still talk to people I met in my first meeting, which I traveled a fair old distance, at least in city miles, to attend because I wanted to avoid bumping into anybody who might know me.

Somebody once said that he could walk into an AA meeting anywhere on the planet with total ease because they would be full of friends he had just not met yet and after 15 months in AA I really get that. Because the reality is that NOBODY understands an alcoholic like another alcoholic and that connection you make with people from all sorts of backgrounds is startling, it really is.

I went into AA assuming it would be all drafty church halls with old tramps sleeping on benches and run by do-gooders who felt sorry for us poor Alchies but the reality is so so different (apart from the drafty church hall bit but that all adds to the character of the thing )

tomsteve

" I think this is the first time in a very long time that I don't feel lonely and hope is coming back."

don't lose that hope!! check this out:
Promises from recovery in A.A.

ALL of them promises have come true for me by working the program and they will all materialize for you iffen ya put in the footwork.

Silvy69

This says it all!!!