Help and Hope
Bill and Lois W.
We who have turned to Al-Anon have often done so in despair, unable to believe in the possibility of change and
unable to go on as we have before.
We feel cheated out of a loving companion, overburdened with responsibilities, unwanted, unloved, and alone. There are even those of us who are arrogant, smug, self-righteous and dominating. We come to Al-Anon, however,
because we want and need help.
While we may have been driven to Al-Anon by the effects of someone else's drinking, we soon come to know that
our own thinking has to change before we can
make a new and successful approach to living.
It is in Al-Anon that we learn to deal with our obsession, our anxiety, our anger, our denial and our feelings of guilt.
It is through the fellowship that we ease our emotional burdens
by sharing our experience, strength and hope with others.
Little by little, we come to realize at our meetings
that much of our discomfort comes from our attitudes.
We begin to change these attitudes and learn about
our responsibilities to ourselves. We discover feelings
of self-worth and love and we grow spiritually.
The emphasis begins to be lifted from the alcoholic and
placed where we do have some power—over our own lives.
~Reprinted with permission from the pamphlet, "Understanding Ourselves and Alcoholism" by Al‑Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA~
