When I first starting attending AA meetings I did not understand why these people appeared to be so happy. I certainly didn’t see anything to be joyful about. My life was a mess and my future was dismal at best. My only consolation was drinking and now I was being told that I couldn’t do that anymore either. Of course they emphasized it was just for one day at a time. Like that was some consolation to me. Forever was forever regardless of how you said it. So, if what they told me was true and they were just like me; which I doubted by the way, who were these people and why were they smiling?
Since I was such a genius at this point, there were only two logical answers. One, they were happy just to be out of the house and away from the nagging spouse at home. And two, from all the meetings they were attending they learned how to successfully control their drinking. All this was fine with me, because being able to drink successfully again was all that I was looking for as well.
It was only after a few months of sobriety that I came to realize that my initial assumptions were all wrong. They were smiling, not because they found a way to drink successfully, but rather that they could live successfully without drinking. All the things I was desperately trying find by drinking I found by not drinking. In AA I was accepted because of who I was and not rejected because of what I was. When I told these people what I was experiencing they understood completely because they had been there themselves. I was discovering the true meaning of fellowship in AA.
I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a nice feeling to go somewhere where people know you and are truly glad to see you. Even after 35+ years it still works for me.
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