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Who Answers?How AA Saved my Life and It Could Save Yours Too
As widely accepted as alcohol and drinking may be, for some people, a drink every now and then can quickly turn into a lifestyle all its own. This is exactly what happens for someone who’s physical, emotional or life circumstance create prime conditions for alcoholism to take hold.
AA, or Alcoholics Anonymous, can be a lifesaver for people who’ve lost the ability to control alcohol’s effects in their lives. According to the Journal of Social Work in Public Health, AA addresses the effects of alcoholism head-on by helping you to see its effects in your life and take the necessary steps towards creating the type of life you want to live.
Call our toll-free helpline at 800-781-0748 (Who Answers?) to ask about AA recovery program treatment options.
How AA Helps
Talking about Your Feelings
Not having to experience uncomfortable or difficult emotions often becomes a prime motivation for drinking. Someone who has problems talking about his or her feelings may well naturally gravitate towards drinking and alcoholism.
AA meetings create a safe and caring environment where you can learn to talk about your feelings rather than drink them away. In effect, learning to “speak” these unexpressed parts of yourself into existence becomes a powerful tool that helps you take back control of your life from alcohol’s effects.
Understanding
An AA sponsor will help you overcome challenges.
A shared understanding among people who face the same types of struggles and challenges can be a powerful force in a person’s life. Considering how difficult the recovery process can get, being able to share with people who are going through the same experiences as you offers a source of hope that can prove invaluable, especially during the darkest times, according to Connecticut’s Official State website.
AA recovery meetings provide a safe environment where you can share your ups and downs and gain valuable guidance and insight from listening to the experiences of others.
Sponsorship
More than anything else, having someone to talk to when the urge to drink seems overwhelming can mean the difference between letting alcohol have its way and choosing to become the person you want to be.
For these reasons, the AA approach places a heavy emphasis on the importance of sponsorship. A sponsor is someone who’s been where you’ve been and learned how to overcome the very same challenges you’re facing now.
Working Towards a Common Goal & Purpose
Maintaining ongoing abstinence requires a set of goals capable of supporting the day to day effort that long-term abstinence requires. Restoring damaged relationships, staying honest and being accountable for the choices you make can be difficult tasks, especially when recovering from the effects of addiction.
The 12 steps that make up the AA recovery approach keeps everybody on the same page in terms of keeping site of the goals and behaviors that make a sober lifestyle possible.
Building a New Lifestyle
Ultimately, building a new lifestyle becomes the overall goal in recovery. As drug and alcohol addictions breed their own respective lifestyles, someone wanting to live life on a drug-free basis must develop the type of attitude, habits and behaviors that make ongoing sobriety possible.
Likewise, regular attendance at AA recovery meetings provides you with the guidance and support needed to create a lifestyle that can support ongoing sobriety.
If you’re considering AA recovery program treatment and need help finding a program that meets your needs, call our helpline at 800-781-0748 (Who Answers?) to speak with one of our addiction counselors.