The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
I would like to take this Al anon thing to the next step and attend face 2 face meetings, read the lit, get a sponsor, the whole shebang. When I go to look up the meeting schedule, I see that there are meetings with different titles... "Discovering Choices" "Courage to Change" "Women's Group". How do I know where to start? Do I just pick one that fits my schedule or are they like classes where you complete a certain one and then move on the the next in a certain order??
It was encouraging in another post I read where someone said to work the program for six months to a year and then clarity for making changes is more possible. I really want to do this. I don't want to move out and then wonder if I really did the right thing. It's worth it to me to try this with all the effort I can give it. Just don't know where to start...
LAH, DO you have an option of going to a beginners meeting in your area? It should be listed as one if you do. We don't have them in my area so it isn't necesary, but if you have one then it will be a good place to start.
In my area with name our meetings similar to the ones you posted below. Is there a contact name and number on the schedule that you can call and get more information about the meeting? If not then just go to one that works for you and ask someone there and they can make suggestions. It shouldn't make a difference which one you go to. They are not like classes. Just a group of people sharing experience strength and hope.
Each alanon meeting will have a different feel even if there are some of the same people there. Try a few of them out until you find what works for you. I have 3 a week that I really enjoy. One is my homegroup so I rarely miss it adn the others I add to my week if I really need a meeting.
Let us know how it goes.
Yours in recovery, Mandy
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"We are not punished for our unforgiveness, we are punished by it" Jim Stovall
That is the best thing you can do for yourself. We love the alcoholic and hate the disease. I stated today in your earlier post we both have some things in common. The one thing we do not have in common is I have attended meetings, 2 each week for the past 3 1/2years. The program has given me the tools to live in the disease, detach from the disease, see my part in the disease and take care of myself first (which is the most important thing we can do for ourselves).
Yes, find a meeting that fits your schedule and walk into the room where you will be with others who are walking in your shoes. Hear their experience, strength, and hope and how they have dealt and are dealing with simular situation you are facing. You won't be alone anymore. No classes, no test, no graduation, only a new way to start living your life, a better life. There will be books available--free literature--and lots of support for you. You will find a new family who cares and understands you as perhaps no one else can.
Keep coming back and posting, because you have found and new family here who also cares. Once again---You are not alone anymore
Congratulations you have started your recovery !!
HUGS, RLC
-- Edited by RLC on Friday 9th of April 2010 02:10:52 PM
I think I have been to four meetings now, 3 at the same place, 1 different one. I plan to try the other two local to me also. I find them soothing like medicine. It is safe to just sit there and cry I discovered at the last one. The people are lovely. I have always joked and labelled myself as ' crap at relationships'. Well at these meetings im not alone with the difficulties I find in myself and my relationships, and that on it's own feels really soothing.
Il look forward to hearing your experience of them :)
Most likely you will need to just go to meeting and see what works best for you.
Sometimes they do list that they are newcomer meetings or "newcomers welcome" or they may say they are a step study (my favorite). Chances are really good that the first one you attend you will be able to get a description of the local meetings available from one of the attendees. I always found that so much more helpful than a schedule.
Enjoy! Great job, let us know how it goes.
Tricia
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To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.
When I went to my first meeting, the chairperson did a newcomer's welcome and added that some people recommended picking the meeting closest to home because then there would be less excuse to avoid going.
I had to laugh, and admit that I'd picked that meeting for its proxmity to home.
(Wow, first meeting and I was already doing something right, lol)
Funny how they work -- even without doing much beyond attending meetings and reading a whole lot of literature, I can feel myself growing and expanding.
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Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could... Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. - Emerson
