"The Forum" Magazine Stories - Al-Anon Family Groups

When I Don’t Agree with the Group Conscience

Two years ago, my group decided to extend the meeting time from 60 to 90 minutes. I never liked longer meetings, but I wasn’t at the business meeting that voted for the new time. Because many meetings nearby met

Slow and Steady

Getting to my first meeting was a lengthy process. I did not believe that Al‑Anon could help me because I couldn’t understand how it worked. I also had many other ideas on how to solve the problem of

I Felt Empowered

When I first came to Al‑Anon, I felt damaged from years spent living with my alcoholic husband. I didn’t grow up in a family where alcohol was present. When I married my husband, I realized that he came

The Day I Gave Up Fixing

Last year, on the first Tuesday in February, I attended my first meeting. It started as one of the worst days of my life—worse than the day I lost my dad to a sudden heart attack, worse than

My Life, His Choices

I have never been a drinker, but I have had to face the fact that I was powerless to stop my young son from drinking. What was it like for me to admit I was powerless over alcohol?

Patient with the Process

Just weeks after a milestone birthday, I broke my hip in three places. I’d been shooing a lizard off my front porch, and when the lizard leaped, I reacted to its sudden movement and hit the floor. I

A Disease of Communication and Relationships

I believe that alcoholism is a disease of communication and a disease of relationships. When my husband offered to help me around the house, I didn’t expect him to volunteer to wash my daughter’s expensive sports gear. I

Identifying and Guarding Against Outside Issues

I've always had an opinion, but I didn’t always have a safe place to express it, so I kept it hidden to avoid family ridicule. As I grew into an adult, trying to express my opinions sometimes sounded

New “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism” Needs Your Sharing!

Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism, Al-Anon’s public outreach magazine, is getting an update, and your personal perspective is needed on how Al‑Anon Family Groups can help people troubled by someone else’s drinking. As you compose your sharing, consider the following