Courage to Change:
Feeling that I don’t belong has been a problem all my life. This was especially true when I first came to Al-Anon. My attending seemed wrong because there was no alcohol in my household as a child — it was my grandparents who drank.
At that first meeting, I learned that alcoholism is a family disease. It affects not only the person who drinks, but those who care about him or her. Indeed, the effects of this disease are often passed from one generation to another. When I heard a description of some of those effects, I recognized a profile of myself. For the first time in my life I was with people who knew what I was going through.
Today I see clearly that I have in fact been affected by the family disease of alcoholism. Al-Anon offers me a way to do my part in breaking this family pattern. I can get off the merry-go-round by choosing recovery.
Today’s Reminder:
In Al-Anon I find people who understand as few others can. If I have been affected by the drinking of another, I need not doubt that I belong.
“No matter what the difficulty, no matter how unique we may feel, somewhere nearby are men and women with similar stories who have found help, comfort, and hope through recovery in Al-Anon.”
– In All Our Affairs