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What Goes On In An Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting
I first went to an Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step meeting 2 months ago. I was pretty beaten down by that point, having gone on a 3 month continuous bender after my wife left me, and was ready to settle down a little and start to piece my life back together. Well, my Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was miraculous – just a couple of months and I'm cured, honest. At alcoholics meetings, they will tell you that this is a lifetime addiction and that you are always a “recovering alcoholic.” I know. I've been through the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step program at least a couple of times already, which almost makes me an expert on it. I think that Alcoholics Anonymous really does do a lot to help people – I mean they cured me – but this part of their philosophy is, if you will pardon the expression, a bunch of hokum.
I simply do not need to spend the rest of my life going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and I am much too interesting to never have a single drink again. I know people who do not drink. They are boring, very boring. I am no teetotaler to spend my life away from whiskey. I love a drink, and thanks to two solid months of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, I think that I could handle one right now. But my Alcoholics Anonymous support group made me promised them that I would at least wait another month before making what they described as “the biggest mistake of my life.” I know that they are only doing what they think is the right thing for me, but gee whiz. These people take themselves just a little bit too seriously if you ask me. I mean, won't I know better than anyone else, even better than Alcoholics Anonymous, when I am ready to have another drink and when I am not. I mean, it was me who came willingly to the meeting in the first place after all.
My advice is, if you are going to Alcoholics Anonymous, do not tell them when you have reached the point that I have reached – the point where you are ready to start drinking responsibly. They are simply trained not to believe you. It is almost like brainwashing in a way. For many people, the Alcoholics Anonymous group ideal of never drinking again might work, but for me it is not necessary.
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