Giday A01 and first up welcome to our little group that is full members offering a lot different methods, experience and opinions. Hopefully somewhere in amongst it you find stuff that rings a little bell in your head. If you find someone who you would like to be like then do what they did, chances are you would get the same result.

If I may be bold enough I am not sure if your intention to cut back, quit or something else?? I am sober through the program of AA and abstinence is part of the program.

Wishing you well and if you want to ask questions please do so.

G8

I remember my first meeting, I was scared to death because I didn't know what to expect. I sat in my car in the parking lot for what seemed like an eternity before I walked through the double doors that had a small hand written notice taped to the doors which read, "AA meeting inside!"

That was nearly 8 years ago! Going through those doors was the best decision I ever made in my life! I am happier now then I have ever been!

AA saved my life!

God Bless!

Please give us some feedback on your first AA meeting and your impressions regarding the AA program.

Hello Angel55901,

You are very welcome and I wish you all the best for the future.

If you are an alcoholic there is no middle ground and you cannot drink safely. The choice is between progressively worse drinking episodes that often end in disaster on the one hand and sobriety on the other hand. The reasons why an alcoholic cannot drink are now well understood and if you are going to AA meetings you can learn more about it by reading the Doctors Opinion in the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous) and following up with more recent research.

Having attended AA meetings for more than seven years I have seen many people come and go and I have tried to analyse why some get sober while others continue to struggle. I think that success has to be built on a solid foundation and it starts with acceptance. Many come to AA meetings and admit that they have a problem but some fail to fully accept the reality that they cannot drink safely.

Following acceptance, the second vital element for success is the willingness to have an open mind. AA is not an organised structure as such but rather it is a fellowship or collection of individuals. In any group of this sort there will be different outlooks and different agendas and common sense is a useful ingredient. What brings people together in AA is that they have a common problem but what keeps them together is that they have found a common solution.

Getting sober requires total commitment for an alcoholic and there cannot be any half measures. Therefore, it is important to want sobriety for yourself rather than doing it in order to please other people. Initially I did not want to go to AA meetings but within a very short time I came to see the value of what was on offer. I then decided to fully commit to AA and I have not taken a drink since. At the start, I went to different meetings as I was keen to learn. I was advised to arrive early and leave late as this allows for very important conversations with other members before and after the meetings. I got involved in doing small things to help out such as putting away the chairs after a meeting. Eventually I did other service jobs but that came later.

Therefore, my suggestion to you is to approach AA with a positive outlook. Look out for similarities rather than differences and be prepared to give it time. The solution to the alcohol problem is to be found in the Twelve Step programme of recovery but that is a few months down the road, assuming that you want it. For now, enjoy the sense of freedom that comes from having that heavy weight of alcoholism lifted from the shoulders.

wowza I am glad they did not dismiss you for on the site drunkenness....but I suppose since Alcoholism is a verified disability they must take a cautious approach to removing a drunk employee first offering them help with the problem that came to their attention....there is a chapter in the AA book called To the Employer.....it is very out dated in regard to the modern Alcoholism measures that companies offer today, in fact though some of the framework of how companies offer help to alcoholics or those caught drunk at work comes from the book Alcoholics Anonymous....and that Chapter....

I hope you keep the job and that there is not a witch hunt attitude when you return to work to find out if you are sober....it could be tragic to lose your employment over this disease...but it has happened....I just saw that Taco Bell released a top manager who drunkenly off duty assaulted an Uber driver before being maced.....

As for the first AA meeting and what to expect? I went to my first at the strong suggestion of my sister and BIL whose house I was crashing in after the BIL flushed a quarter pound of Gold Bud Columbian pot down the toilet that I was supposed to sell....it was either go to AA and you can stay here tonight or go to the Salvation Army to sleep and have a nice life....I of course called the Salvation Army to find out how to get a bed there as I did not want to attend AA...LOL

I also called the AA central service office here in my big city living world and they referred me to a newcomers meeting....I was in complete foggyness and remember hardly anything of that meeting...except they were going out to eat afterwards I was invited and I was afraid if I went that I would drink...so I bolted from there and did not come back for nine bad drinking years later....hopefully you do not follow my pathway...but I got sober over 20yrs ago after I asked an AA person at work for help....that was more than 15yr after my first AA meeting....

I know by my state law after some people reassured me that I wouldn't automatically be terminated. But I am sort of on a workplace probation for 2 years or as long as I stay with the company.

I know I have to make my sobriety my #1 priority right now. Everything seems to depend on it. To get better and back on track with living and not just existing.

I'll update later on how the first AA newcomers meeting went.