I have been a member of Ala -non for only a short time since 2011. Yet I am a grateful member of Ala-non. When I first came here I was A bitter angry person as many of us are because of alcohol or the drug use of people we love. I have taken this program and applied as best I could to my life. For the past 8 months I have been without a job and have floundered because of that fact. The time off reopened many wounds from a life less than perfect. I back slid alot but did try to keep my self together with the tools I learned here and the chatroom interactions. I realized that I needed to trust in a Higher Power to see me through. It's not just me who needs to know this but all of us on this journey. There are two things I have learned for sure there is a God and I'm not Him. As much as i want to think so most days. I have been blessed with a new job better than the last one and I am so grateful for it. The thing I learned that was an eye opener to me is how much we here need each other. Those of us who have been here for some time need to be signs to those newcomers to this place and program we need to show them in our experience there is hope for all of us and to offer our strengths of comfort and caring  to them . We have a great program that offers so much but words only mean something when offered from the hearts of all of us here. There is hope it may take a while we may struggle even more but trust the program to show how to reconnect with ourselves our true selves . Someone so special and cared for. Hard to see sometimes but I I promise we are all special. So now we need to put into action what we've learned and remember we are a sign of hope for someone even if we are still hoping ourselves. It does get better.