A way out, one day at a time.
What alcoholism is, what to expect at your first meeting, and the Twelve Steps that A.A. members use to recover.
What is alcoholism?
The alcoholic is a sick person suffering from a disease for which there is no known cure. Alcoholism is an illness: a physical compulsion combined with a mental obsession to drink. The alcoholic must learn to stay away from alcohol completely in order to lead a normal life.
Alcoholism is not a question of too little willpower or of moral weakness.
Only you can decide if you are an alcoholic and whether you want to give A.A. a try. If you honestly want to stop drinking, but can’t, A.A. can help.
Questions newcomers ask
Feeling nervous about your first meeting is normal. Here’s what to expect.
What happens at an A.A. meeting?
An A.A. meeting may take one of several forms, but at any meeting you will find alcoholics talking about what drinking did to their lives and personalities, what actions they took to help themselves, and how they are living their lives today.
If I go to an A.A. meeting, does that commit me to anything?
No. A.A. does not keep membership files or attendance records. You do not have to reveal anything about yourself. No one will bother you if you don’t want to come back.
What happens if I meet people I know?
They will be there for the same reason you are there. They will not disclose your identity to outsiders. At A.A. you retain as much anonymity as you wish. That is one of the reasons we call ourselves Alcoholics Anonymous.
What does membership in A.A. cost?
Membership in A.A. involves no financial obligations of any kind. The A.A. program of recovery from alcoholism is available to anyone who has a desire to stop drinking. A.A. is entirely self-supporting, and no outside contributions are accepted.
The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
The heart of the A.A. program of recovery. Members work through them at their own pace, usually with the help of a sponsor.
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1
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
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2
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
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3
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
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4
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
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5
Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
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6
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
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7
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
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8
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
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9
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
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10
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
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11
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
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12
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Learn more in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions on aa.org.
The recovery movement is changing our perceptions of the diseases of alcohol and drug addiction and spreading the word that there is hope for you or someone you love. Help is available and recovery is possible.