Day 5
 

Going to go to my 3rd AA meeting tonight. I'm really want to get a mentor but not sure how to go about it. Because my self asteim is really low I find it difficult to talk in a group of people I don't know. Both prior meetings have been at different venues and this one will be at yet another different venue. So agin I will be in a group where there's no-one I know. I don't know whether to wait until my Tuesday group as I got on there really well. However I'll be texting my boss tonight to say I'm getting signed off for another week and sure he'll call at some stage and I'll need a lot of support next week because of my problems at work. I'm worried if I don't have someone in place I'll falter, fall to peaces etc, but it needs to be the right person. I know you guys are here but I need someone I can call and/or meet up with.

When I say Mentor I mean Sponsor.

Do the members of your groups go out for coffee after a meeting?

Teigan5, 5 days is FANTASTIC, congratulations, rootin for ya. :egypt:

Congratulations on five days!

I don't know. Always found it difficult to hang around after the meetings cause I don't know anyone yet.

Teigan - have you thought about going to the meeting early? I found that it was easier to meet people one-on-one if I got there early and helped set things up. It was easier before a meeting for me because I had some activity to fall back on (setting up the chairs, coffee, whatever) in case I wasn't clicking with the particular individuals.

This was NA, but I don't see why AA would be different in that respect.

I'll do that thanks.

I have the same issue. My first instinct after a meeting is to bolt. It's not that I don't want to be friendly, it's just I'm accustomed to being alone and the most subtle emotional aspects of interacting with strangers feel amplified and a bit painful to me. I think that's part of why I started drinking in the first place. It'll probably get better the more we become familiarized with the people int he group. Plus, seeing other people be all fearlessly honest and strong makes it easier.

well done you on 5 days Teigan5!!!

i just want to assure you that myself and pretty much everyone i know who has been clean/sober & doing meetings for a while now - we all were full of fear around these new people and strange places at the outset.

i really FORCED myself to talk to people like my life depended on it - because it did! i was more fearful of what would happen if i didn't throw myself in to AA/NA as best i could at the time.

my first share was something like 'er, uh, i'm scared ... and i need help'.
i must help others now. for them, and also to keep ME well. so anyone who is practicing the AA program will be more than happy to help you out Teigan5.

do what you need to do - it works! best of luck :)