Reflect on your Al‑Anon birthday—whether you’re a newcomer or longtime member.
May’s topic is, “Reflect on your Al‑Anon birthday—whether you’re a newcomer or longtime member.”
As always, you can also write about Al‑Anon’s three Legacies. This month features Step Five, Tradition Five, and Concept Five.
Sharings on the Member Blog may be used in future Al‑Anon publications.
New topics are being added each month!
When I camed to Al-Anon twenty years ago, I was scared, lonely, and sick with anxiety and fear. My then husband was detoxing from strong drugs and I was afraid he would die. Al-Anon welcomed me and told me it would get better and to “Keep Coming Back.” Thank God, I listened. Today, I “Live and Let Live” “One Day at a Time.” I have joy and sadness in my life, but the sadness is short-lived. Feeling my feelings is one of the many gifts Al-Anon has given me. I’ll keep coming back!
My Al-Anon birthday, or ala-versary, as my home group calls it, is December 29, 2022. I can still remember details of that day – I felt so defeated and unloved. I don’t remember what I googled that led me to Al-Anon. Whatever it was, I am forever grateful. Over a year later, it is amazing to look back at the person I was back then. I am now equipped with an infinite number of tools to handle any complication that comes my way. I will always be grateful for the program and look forward to continuing to grow into the… Read more »
I am a longtime member, but only for the grace of God. When I came to Al-Anon in March, many 24 hours ago, I was 34 going on 13!!! I was so emotionally immature and so confused that thinking about this today scares the daylights out of me. I didn’t want to be there. My sober ex-husband told me to go to Al-Anon to learn to “mind my business”, as he put it. I was not a happy camper to say the least. I will forever be grateful to him for offering this gift of a lifetime. The month of… Read more »
My Al-Anon birthday is 35 years ago but I didn’t realize it was a beginning or a birth. Back then, I did not understand what codependency was or the importance of the group in my own recovery. Why on earth would I need recovery, I am not an alcoholic or an addict. But I will go, it is part of my alcoholic husband’s plan. Many years of dysfunction played out. Our family grew. I was in a successful career. My husband had 12 years of sobriety. We traveled, enjoyed raising our kids into adulthood. But the disease returned with a… Read more »
Forty-one years ago, a family friend took me to my first Al-Anon meeting. I was raw and full of confusion and fear. My two daughters were just infants. I had lots of decisions to make but the step I made into that meeting was gonna be bigger than I could imagine. Since then, new members have shared that same experience of the soft landing into a room full of love, understanding, and acceptance, all there to heal and guide. I am alive and well, still so grateful for all the meetings and events, readings, and now many longtime friends across… Read more »
I am an old/newcomer. That is, I left for years but I’m back and grateful for the welcoming fellowship I have received as I attend Zoom meetings. God’s/Higher Power’s grace is sustaining me through my son’s addiction.
I did not think we celebrated birthdays in Al-Anon and heard that was not ok. I am so glad that members around the world celebrated their recovery birthday with so much Love and JOY. I remember the woman who brought me to the Al-Anon rooms and I felt something kind and familiar in that meeting. I heard things that I could relate to and my heart had hope. I am so grateful that this month I get to be of service and host an Al-Anon speaker on her Al-Anon birthday and celebrate the joy of recovery with others who also… Read more »
My Alanon birthday is June 4th. This year, I celebrate 38 years in Al-Anon. So grateful I found my way into the rooms. My
Al-Anon tool box for accepting life on life’s terms has made all the difference. I can’t imagine where I would have ended up had Higher Power not intervened. Working the program instead of the problem is definitely my go-to daily goal!
This year marks my 23rd year in Al-Anon. This has been continuous. The result has been an ever-increasing ability to utilize the program in all my affairs. It has saved our marriage. Today I reach out to newcomers. I remember how welcomed I felt by those experienced members who reached out to me when I was too afraid to speak. I celebrate my birthdays with commemorative coins and by purchasing a subscription to The Forum, and by making a birthday envelope contribution to WSO.
This coming September will mark my 12th anniversary as an Al-Anon member. The date always makes me smile because it reminds me of the moment when a gentleman handed me a newcomer packet at the end of my first meeting. He pointed to the date he’d written above the names and phone numbers of members offering me support. With a smile he said, “This date might come to have a special meaning for you.” He was so right. That date has become my benchmark for recognizing how long I’ve kept coming back. Other than a job, I never stayed with… Read more »
May 9th is my Al-Anon birthday, I refer to it as my “serenity date”. After my first meeting, I heard members suggest keeping a journal, so I bought a notebook and wrote the date of my first meeting in there so I would always remember. I celebrate that date like I would any other special anniversary – it was the day my life started to turn around for the better. Every May is a time for me to reflect on where I was when I started my journey, and to see how far I have come. I always try to… Read more »
Perhaps like many others, when I walked into my first Al-Anon meeting I had no idea what to expect. I was there at the urging of my wife’s therapist, even though I knew I wasn’t the one with the problem. And yet deep down I knew I was suffering from a tangled-up mess of emotions. I had tried everything to fix the problem, but every effort was to no avail. I no longer thought that life would get any better. I feared that the future would bring only more chaos and pain. I was angry, hurt, and despondent. I found… Read more »
I am a grateful Al-Anon member of this worldwide fellowship. It’s such a timely topic for me “reflecting on my Al-Anon birthday” as I near my six-year Al-Anon anniversary next month, June! It couldn’t have been more perfect. The word for birthday in my mother tongue loosely translates to “day of growth” and that’s precisely what Al-Anon has been for me in the past six years. I’ve grown so much! In all aspects of my life. I’ve a growing relationship with my Higher Powers today whom I found in the meeting rooms. I have friends in fellowship who keep helping… Read more »
My recovery birthday is special. It marks the beginning of my journey to healthy behavior and serenity. I never really knew how wonderful life could be until I began to realize the gifts of the program. I’ll never go back to my old ways!
I am an extremely long time member. I personally can no longer attend meetings, but I used to attend each week. It was always great because the needs of others were always felt by me for personal prayer, and many shared awesome transformations in their own families.
May happens to be my birthday month. It was suggested when I first entered the program, that I might want to write it down because with all the distractions of alcoholism, I would surely forget it, and I know many members who have no idea when they entered.
I am so grateful for the wisdom of those who went before me, in so many ways, but to have on record the day my life changed, that I started living my life finally, is definitely something to celebrate – and I do!!!!
This fall will mark 20 years since I stepped into my first meeting and permanently enriched my life. Immediately, I felt welcome, understood, and every cell in my body knew I was no longer alone. After growing up with alcoholism, I finally had a loving community of wise and healthy elders to love, comfort, and guide me. My Sponsor became my most treasured friend. I keep coming back because I love the person I am when I commit to recovery, community, and divinely-inspired self-care.
My Al-Anon birthday was last week, and coincidentally, I was asked to share my story in a meeting this week, so I have been reflecting and was so excited to see the opportunity to share my thoughts. I attended my first meeting 36 years ago when I was a young mother married to an alcoholic who had just gone to a treatment center. I was so afraid and isolated from keeping the secrets in the family that the relief I felt in the meeting room was overwhelming. I had urgent questions – was there really hope? Should I stay or… Read more »
On my fifth year in Al-Anon, I attended a local Al-Anon Speaker Meeting in which they acknowledged the memberships birthdays of the month. As I stood in the line with probably 30 other members waiting eagerly to share my Birthday Success of 5 years, my mind began to wonder. I mentally praised myself for taking the program seriously, working the Steps, doing the work through the good and rough times, jumping into service… When the lovely woman in front of me went up to the microphone and announced I am celebrating 55 years in Al-Anon! My mouth dropped, some of… Read more »
December 24, 2014 Such a sad day that was for me. I truly believed I could not survive much longer. I felt like this was really the lowest I could go and I could not see how to go on. This meeting was my last attempt at survival. What at that time appeared as the saddest, most miserable time in my life, I left that meeting with hope I didn’t think possible. The people there were laughing as I walked in and at first I thought I was in the wrong place. I expected everyone to be as miserable as… Read more »