My 1st AA meeting
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Gulf Coast, Florida USA
Posts: 5,731
My 1st AA meeting
I have been thinking about how fear actually prevented me from going to my first AA meeting .
I had this vision in my mind that everyone was going to be staring at me when I came in .
I thought I would see people I knew and perhaps I would be talked about .
Haha! I thought no one would talk to me .
I was afraid to make eye contact because of all the shame I felt .
Or at my 1st meeting I was angry because no one acknowledged me, like they should have known I was a newcomer .
As I look back at my first meeting which was a long time ago, I can now see how those fears were this illness all along trying to prevent me from trying to get well .
I liken this illness to the devil and it does not want me to get well .
Well people in AA are not mind readers but I do believe we are sensitive to and conscious of new faces coming in the rooms .
If you are new to a Face to Face meeting please raise your hand when asked if anyone is new so folks will know that you are new .
That way people will most likely reach out to you and welcome you and I promise you will find hope .
Please do not be discouraged if someone doesn't run right up to you as they may be going through their own stuff .
Today when I see newcomers come in, I try to reach out. Any new face I have not seen I go up to and say a simple Hello and Welcome .
Tonight at a meeting I noticed two seperate men standing each by themselves looking very uncomfortable .
It makes me crazy when other men don't notice the newcomer while they are standing right next to them involved in a conversation .
I am a female so though I really want to just go hug every new guy that comes in as I am a very nurturing type, it probably wouldn't be appropriate .
People get weird ideas .
I kept nudging my hubby to go welcome them and he did .
Sometimes that first experience is the difference between life and death and I really believe that .
I really take this illness seriously .
When we come in to the rooms of AA for the first time, it can be a scary experience and we don't know exactly what we are getting into .
We don't understand the lingo and it can sound like a secret language .
Then we hear about a Higher Power and the word insanity lol. It can be intimidating .
I just want to encourage you if you are new to walk through that fear because the hope you will leave that meeting with will far outweigh the fear you walked in with .
Perhaps for the first time in your life you may truly believe that you can get well as you see others laughing and enjoying themselves .
And again If no one reaches out to you immediately please don't take it personally, it has nothing to do with you .
Please keep coming back cuz it will and does get better each time and before you know it people are calling you by name and you feel like you are part of something special .
You can do it. We are all just human and we can empathize with you, as we have been there .
I had this vision in my mind that everyone was going to be staring at me when I came in .
I thought I would see people I knew and perhaps I would be talked about .
Haha! I thought no one would talk to me .
I was afraid to make eye contact because of all the shame I felt .
Or at my 1st meeting I was angry because no one acknowledged me, like they should have known I was a newcomer .
As I look back at my first meeting which was a long time ago, I can now see how those fears were this illness all along trying to prevent me from trying to get well .
I liken this illness to the devil and it does not want me to get well .
Well people in AA are not mind readers but I do believe we are sensitive to and conscious of new faces coming in the rooms .
If you are new to a Face to Face meeting please raise your hand when asked if anyone is new so folks will know that you are new .
That way people will most likely reach out to you and welcome you and I promise you will find hope .
Please do not be discouraged if someone doesn't run right up to you as they may be going through their own stuff .
Today when I see newcomers come in, I try to reach out. Any new face I have not seen I go up to and say a simple Hello and Welcome .
Tonight at a meeting I noticed two seperate men standing each by themselves looking very uncomfortable .
It makes me crazy when other men don't notice the newcomer while they are standing right next to them involved in a conversation .
I am a female so though I really want to just go hug every new guy that comes in as I am a very nurturing type, it probably wouldn't be appropriate .
People get weird ideas .
I kept nudging my hubby to go welcome them and he did .
Sometimes that first experience is the difference between life and death and I really believe that .
I really take this illness seriously .
When we come in to the rooms of AA for the first time, it can be a scary experience and we don't know exactly what we are getting into .
We don't understand the lingo and it can sound like a secret language .
Then we hear about a Higher Power and the word insanity lol. It can be intimidating .
I just want to encourage you if you are new to walk through that fear because the hope you will leave that meeting with will far outweigh the fear you walked in with .
Perhaps for the first time in your life you may truly believe that you can get well as you see others laughing and enjoying themselves .
And again If no one reaches out to you immediately please don't take it personally, it has nothing to do with you .
Please keep coming back cuz it will and does get better each time and before you know it people are calling you by name and you feel like you are part of something special .
You can do it. We are all just human and we can empathize with you, as we have been there .
Fellow Traveler and Seeker
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Posts: 2,408
Great post deeker!
We all come in broken to an AA meeting. Having someone greet you, look you in the eye, shake your hand and actually welcome you - that can make someone's day so easily.
Great job
We all come in broken to an AA meeting. Having someone greet you, look you in the eye, shake your hand and actually welcome you - that can make someone's day so easily.
Great job
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Mass
Posts: 189
Originally Posted by paul99 
We all come in broken to an AA meeting. Having someone greet you, look you in the eye, shake your hand and actually welcome you - that can make someone's day so easily.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Gulf Coast, Florida USA
Posts: 5,731
Het shesush
Originally Posted by ShesuhFighter
I really appreciate this. I'm attending my first AA meeting tomorrow. Uneasy, anxious, but looking into it with hope. Thank you.
Sober since Jan 1, 2012
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,583
Originally Posted by deeker
Today when I see newcomers come in, I try to reach out. Any new face I have not seen I go up to and say a simple Hello and Welcome .
A huge part of my group have tons of years of sobriety, and so I think maybe I feel I don't have the right to say those things, because I feel so new still. Because of your reminder to me, I'm going to try harder on this - because if it wasn't for those who welcomed me, I wouldn't have kept coming back. Thanks again.
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