Dear New Member,
Welcome! No matter how fearful you are, please don’t leave the meeting.
I was so scared to go to my first Al-Anon meeting. I had promised myself that I’d sit in the back of the room and not talk. But when I went into the meeting room, everyone was sitting around a table. The people were friendly and kind, although I was still uneasy.
Sure I cried at the meeting. That was because the members were expressing what I was feeling. The pain and disappointment of living with active alcoholism is unbearable alone.
After the meeting, which was an hour and a half, I received hugs before leaving with plenty of literature and members’ phone numbers. One member called me the next day and she soon became my Sponsor.
The most important message I took home after my first meeting was that I was powerless over alcohol and it wasn’t my fault that my husband drank so much. That was a big weight off my shoulders.
By Madeleine C., Quebec