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.
My city has 2 face to face meetings. 6pm Sunday Night and 10 am Friday Mornings.
I have a million excuses on why they are never convenient for me. On Sundays, I'm normally winding down and getting settled in for the evening. On Fridays, i'm at work.
I need to dedicate some time to go to church and an alanon meeting at least once a month. (i'm not going at all now).
((( Sincerely ))) I know exactly how you feel. It took me time to make up my mind to go. For a few weeks would drive past, but never pull in. Then I pulled into the parking lot, but never parked. I'm so glad that I decided to tackle that "fear".
((((Sincerely)))) considering what you have done before this which hasn't worked and what is available that might (no guarantees) you owe it to yourself to try something new.
When I first got into Al-Anon and the face to face groups and understanding how very sick I became and that the disease just would not quit until it took everything away, I say Al-Anon as a counseling session and therefore a medical issue. I would tell my managers and supervisors that I had a medical appointment to go to and then went. They cannot by law keep you from treatment...and Al-Anon is...treatment for a disease which is fatal in nature not only to the drinker. I was born and raised within a religious practice and found out God is in the rooms of Al-Anon...in more forms than I could first ever imagine and so I did both first and then Al-Anon more often. The priests of my religious culture told me that they had no answers for what I was going thru and tried to tell me that they didn't underestand and what I should do was keep coming back to church (many times a week often) and pray, pray, pray which I was doing and which also didn't work. Imagine I am religiously educated...a theologist at one time...and the disease just nodded at that experience and replied SO? and went after my life as if that was the simpliest of things to take from me. For me...God is in the rooms of the Al-Anon Family Groups and AA. Will be supporting you. ((((hugs))))
Hi Sincerely, I think its hard to motivate yourself in the winter nights. My meetings are at 8pm on a week night and it can be really hard to go back out into the cold at night. However, I force myself through being scared to go back to my old negative ways of thinking. I like to belong to my group and I feel part of it and responsible to the other members. Anyway, the light nights are here so maybe you will feel more energised.x
I visited San Francisco for 3 weeks one year. In a church close to where I was staying, Al Anon hosted a candlelight 11th Step meeting every Sunday evening. The church was old and smelled musty but the candlelight and the group of 12-steppers speaking in the darkness of the old church made the hour especially sacred for me. Those meetings felt holier than the many years of religious services I had attended in my particular faith-practice. Perhaps those 6:00 Sunday evening services will do both for you - help you heal from being affected by alcoholism and allow you to experience your HP in a way that might be satisfying for you, Sincerely.
I am just taking it one step at a time. For right now, doing the online meeting is a big step. I don't like to go out in the evenings and I work during the day plus AlAnon face to face meetings are 30 min drive away from where I live. Maybe these are all excuses but they are what is for me right now.
