Welcome to the Newcomer

I was in a meeting yesterday, a woman with 3 days spoke up, she sobbed as she told her story of utter despair. I could so relate to her feelings, tears started running down my face! I never want to feel that way again!

And through all that has been going on in my life in the last few months, I still would rather go through this sober than be where that woman is now. This is why the new comer IS the most important person in the room, they don't know it at the time, but they help us stay sober. Cause things get better, promises start coming true, life gets good and we can forget how it used to be...I was a shell of a person, I had no one, just my bottle.

I remember how hard it was to face my malady, on one hand life was out of whack, I was just merely surviving, and on the other hand, giving up my best friend, for the rest of my life seemed totally impossible! And so I was stuck, for a long time, I didn't want to drink, but I didn't know how to live without it.

Of course I didn't come to AA willingly, I mean really who does, who just wakes up and says oh yeah, I want to be in AA! No one, just like no one wants to be an alcoholic. But I have a disease and this is the cure that works. I come to meetings and I learn, I watch others go through life sober; getting married, having babies, buying homes, and also dealing with break ups and deaths and taxes(lol!).

And to the Newcomer: We are glad you're here! You don't ever have to feel this way again. This is the softer, easier way!

Here are The AA Promises
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self-seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
 Are these extravagant promises? We think not.
They are being fulfilled among us - sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.
They will always materialize if we work for them.

Alcoholics Anonymous p83-84