I first started attending Al‑Anon meetings in a desperate attempt to learn how to help my brother find sobriety. My life was unmanageable in that I didn’t know how to get him to seek help, and I was powerless over the control alcohol had over him.
In that first meeting, I heard the phrase “family disease,” and the dots of my own life began connecting. I was raised, along with my sister and brother, in an alcoholic family. So many things started to make sense. I would say that neither I nor my siblings have had a healthy relationship with alcohol, and now my brother has the disease.
I realize now how greatly my life has been affected by this disease. Things like lack of confidence, isolation, being withdrawn, fear of speaking up, and being competitive are just a few of the traits that can be at least partially explained by my childhood in alcoholism. Today, I don’t blame my father for this, because that doesn’t change anything. I am the person I am today, and recognizing that the family disease of alcoholism contributed to that brings me some peace.
I was first drawn to Al‑Anon to find out how to help my brother, but I “Keep Coming Back” to help myself.
By Russ B.
The Forum, January 2025
Feel free to reprint this article on your service arm website or newsletter, along with this credit line: Reprinted with permission of The Forum, Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA.