Atending AA meeting - Al-Anon Family Group

Country Boy · Veteran Member

Atending AA meeting

Jerry F · ~*Service Worker*~

Don't worry about it...make sure they are listed as "open" meeting. You can learn (over time) thru either a speaker (a single members approach to his/her disease and then recovery) or discussion the subject there is usually picked by group conscious or the meeting secretary. Don't take any expectations...just as Al-Anon guides "an open mind" and you will find help. Remember you are doing your recovery for yourself. In support ((((hugs)))) smile

abbyal · ~*Service Worker*~

Open AA meetings in my early recovery offered hope for me , but eventually I realized that they were about HIM and I was sick of trying to figure him out so I continued with my Al-Anon meetings for myself - finding out what made me tick was far more rewarding than trying to figure out someone else and why they do what do .

Aloha · ~*Service Worker*~

I've found personally that I'm more comfortable attending speaker meetings if I go to an open AA meeting.

I've always felt anxious attending AA meetings myself - like I'm intruding, etc. I really try to keep my mouth shut and just listen because these people are there to get support from one another to make it through another day of not drinking. I do find it so very interesting when I hear A's shares in that a lot of their challenges still boil down to the THINKING, which is what I suffer through as an Al-Anon.

What has helped me feel a little more comfortable with attending open AA meetings was that knowledge that their thinking is just as screwed up as mine, and knowing that alcoholism is a FAMILY disease, meaning I'm a part of the AA family even if I'm not actually an A myself.

Al-Anon remains my main program, but I really do value and appreciate my sponsor's suggestion to attend the occasional open AA meeting and to read the first 164 pages of the AA Big Book... not only to see the A in the big book, but to see parts of myself, as well. This perspective helps to reduce the "us versus them" mentality. We're all in this together.

sookie · Senior Member

My husband has thrown it in my face SO many times that he asked me 2 years ago to go to an AA meeting with him and I refused (I was not yet in Al-Anon and he was seriously drinking...and lying about it, etc...the typical hell we all go through) so the last time he used that one I peacefully said that I would LOVE to go with him. I actually know many of the AA members who also attend my meetings. He seemed to be surprised and hasn't pushed it.

But I would like to go...though I feel like I would cry through the whole thing (I get very emotional, still) and I feel like you said above--i would be an intruder. Ugh. Good topic.

Pushka · ~*Service Worker*~

I go to both open speaker and regular meetings just like an alanon meeting there is no pressure to talk .. you can if you want to. For me it has nothing to do with figuring out my alcoholic .. I get to take wisdom from a whole other program and apply it to my own program. I love terms such as rigorous honesty, suit up and show up, life on life's terms. It means a GREAT deal to me to listen to people share and see where they have been and where they are going.

All I have to do is keep an open mind, I've been going to 2 open AA meetings religiously since January of this year. It helps me in detaching and knowing what is mine and what is not. I've been welcomed warmly at those meetings and for someone who tends to isolate it means a great deal to me. I've even started reading AA material taking what I like and again applying it to my own program. What I have gained has given me a stronger program and a much more open mind.

Hugs P :)

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