The stories we hear in Alcoholics Anonymous help us get sober.
And I say that because I was one of those people who thought I was unique. That I was different. No one had a story like mine. That no one drank and used drugs like I did. Therefore, I viewed Alcoholics Anonymous as a place that wasn't for me because I wasn't like the rest of the people who were there. But that's where I was terribly wrong.
Now it's true, that most people we meet in Alcoholics Anonymous are different from us in many ways. They come from different backgrounds. They have different levels of education. They are of other ethnic groups and religious backgrounds. Some are old. And some are young.
But even though no two are like, their stories follow the same plot. They began drinking or using and something bad happened to them. While it took many of them years, they eventually had some kind of spiritual awakening that brought them into the twelve-step meeting rooms. And once they grasped what the program was all about and began practicing the principles, life became remarkably better. And that's why I say the stories we hear in the meeting rooms are what help us get sober.
No matter how bad we think our stories are, there's always someone who will tell a story that's so outrageous that we wonder how they're sober today. I've heard speakers talk of unimaginable abuse and suffering, yet somehow they were saved by the principles of the twelve-step programs. They tell real-life stories of terrible childhoods and abuse, yet they got sober and came through it all.
Probably one of the main reasons that the twelve-step programs have been successful for some 75 years is that its members find strength and recovery while they solve their common problems.
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