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.
Todays reading is about the unique support of alanon. Alcoholism is an isolating disease, so realizing that there is a place where people come together to share their stories is a comfort. There is a sentence on this page that describes the 12 steps as something which, when taken daily, can keep the disease of alcoholism in remission. It goes on to say that while things like therapy are certainly helpful, there is nothing quite like the support found in the program.
The other sentence that stands out to me is one in which the phrase healing is hearing is described. Hearing our own experiences through others has been, for me, a great relief. A layer of the isolation is removed every time I am able to relate to someone elses story, and feel it as my own. In the same way that there is a peculiar loneliness associated with living with an active alcoholic, there is also a specific comfort in knowing that others can share our experiences.
I remember, especially when I first came to meetings, how much of a relief it was to hear: you are not alone.
Im reaching out to anyone who needs to hear it today: you are not alone.
Good Morning Mary, Great topic . I know when i entered the rooms of alanon I felt completely alone - as if no one else could understand or had experienced the fear and dread that i lived with as the result of this disease. I was greatly surprised when I attended a meeting and found many how understood and literature that offered tools too live by. I kept coming back and still do as the comfort of other like minded fellows is a great incentive
Thanks for your service Mary. When I learned of my As out of control behavior with alcohol, I felt so ashamed that I didnt want to tell any of my close friends. I allowed it to be isolating. And what an interesting concept: alanon = remission. That is true for me, and I cant imagine how I would be if I never walked through the doors. Lyne
Good morning MIP! Thank you Mary for your service and the daily. Thanks to all for your shares and ESH. I too arrived feeling very alone and removed from the rest of the world. There is no doubt that I isolated as an unhealthy means for trying to cope with the disease and the diseased. I too found great comfort in attending meetings - hearing others who also lived with the disease and yet were able to find peace, serenity, joy, etc. For me, it gave me hope, which I hadn't had in a long time.
I am grateful I arrived when I did, and I have no doubt my journey is divinely inspired. Left to my own, I was to full of shame, anger and blame to ask for help (ego) and yet here I am! Happy Sunday all - make it a great day! Off to my weekly meeting with my extended family!
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Practice the PAUSE...Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you are about to react harshly and you will avoid doing and saying things you will later regret. ~~~~ Lori Deschene
Happy Sunday, MIP family!! Thank you Mary for your service!
I appreciate you all who have shared their ESH before mine... as usual, I can glean goodness from each post! Living with an addicted individual is indeed lonely. You no longer have the loving connection with your SO, and you are too embarrassed to admit there is a problem, so you try anything and everything to make your life to APPEAR normal. But it is anything but... so you stop having friends over, then you stop going places, and of course your children can never have their friends over - first, it was b/c I was fearful that they might "report" back to their parents, and then my kid was just too ashamed of his father. It is a sad and lonely way to exist... b/c it is not Living.
The two things that I immediately got from becoming an Al-Anon member were: 1. I am not alone, nor do I have to be alone with this... and 2. (and probably most important) I WAS NOT CRAZY! What I was experiencing, what I knew was fact, was indeed accurate. I did not make it up, nor was I sensationalizing things. This was key.
Like Mary, I like to welcome newbies. I am sorry for what brings you here, but there is healing here... stay.
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"The wolf that thrives, is the one you feed." - Cherokee legend
"Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields... Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness." Mary Oliver
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