AA meetings

[Saltycrab]

Has anyone gone to an AA meeting in your home town or neighborhood?  Did you see people that you knew there?  If so, was it an uncomfortable situation?

[Saltycrab]

Thank you.  I'm glad I stumbled by this place.  I definately belong here.

[Saltycrab]

Thank you for your story.  The comments here are doing amazing things.  I appreciate all of you.  I've been buzz and hangover free for 10 days now.  Still allowing small amounts until I see my doc tomorrow morning.  Main concern...I don't want to die because of stopping cold turkey.  I'll have an honest conversation about "how much and how long".  We'll go from there.  I want to LIVE!  I will not let my son's alcohol related death be in vane.  I will honor him by kicking the booze habit once and for all.  So help me God!

[Saltycrab]

Thank you for responding with such excellent advice!  I never thought of it quite that way.

[ROSYouralright]

If someone you know is at the meeting then it's for a reason... Your sobriety is more important than a little bit of "uncomfort".  Addiction effects many people, from many walks of life! Their is no shame in recovery!

[ibizan]

I got sober/clean living in a small town of 8000 ppl in 1983.I had a former job as a juvenile probation officer and i used to drink/use in the morning as an excuse(lousy) due to so called job stress!LOL!i wore these big tinted glasses thinking no one knew!the first AA meeting i went to was being chaired by a young man whose girlfriend was a former probationer of mine!His jaw dropped when I walked in and he said"this is a closed meeting for alcoholics only"!!!i humbly replied "i know that...I AM one"!!!he smiled and said "its about time you got here"...i blushed but knew he was right!After that we shared driving to a variety of AA mtgs.in and out of town!Like OpenMind said...we're all there for the same reason and thats all that matters!the embarrassment is really our shame...but we learn to get over that quickly and take what we can from the meetings to stay sober/clean!

[OpenMind24hours]

Before I retired I worked in downtown Detroit. We had a few meetings downtown and I would run into quite a few people I knew at work. The mind-set was pretty much "very much happy to see you here!!" Never uncomfortable. And we'd call each other a go to noontime meetings together. Here at home I've run  into a few peeps I knew over the years, but one especially that was a godsend. He and I played in a band together back in the early 70's and did lots of drinking and drugging. We met again when he decided to go to AA in the late 80's. We instantly resurrected our old friendship and it's been going strong ever since. He's a surgical assistant and sees doctors he works with at meetings too. See how it works? When you walk into a meeting know that we're all equals there. Nobody is going to judge anyone. Nobody's ashamed that they happened to have the disease of alcoholism. At a private meeting you won't see anybody there who isn't trying to recover from alcoholism. We all got the bug. To be honest, the only exception to that statement might be someone who was told by a judge to attend meetings. But then, hey!, they're there for a DUI.

Never let fear or your pride keep you from going to a meeting and saving your life. Get the help you need.