START A MEETING
March 5, from “Strengthening My Recovery” daily reader
“Starting a new meeting requires determination and work, but the reward of watching others find the ACA way of life is worth it.” BRB p. 560
“As children growing up in turmoil, confusion, and despair, many of us had no anchor, no sense of belonging. We survived from day to day, sometimes hour to hour. We hoped we could outwit, or sweet talk, or hide from our perpetrators. All alone, we relied on our ingenuity, our wits, and our child selves to survive.
When we found out about ACA and read some of the literature, we were surprised. Someone knew what had happened to us. We looked for a meeting. We were very disappointed when we couldn’t find one in our town. Again, life just didn’t seem to want to work for us.
But we then found telephone and internet meetings on the website, and we worked our program hard. We found great recovery, but the itch to have a face-to-face meeting just wouldn’t go away. After enough time went by, we gathered the courage to start a meeting in our town. We contacted WSO and they guided us every step of the way. It took a lot of work, but it was the greatest gift we ever gave ourselves. We finally had an anchor; we finally found our home.
On this day I will remember how life was before I found ACA, so that I can see how much better it is now. If I am able to help start a new meeting, I embrace it as a way to both enhance my own recovery and make ACA available to others.”
My Experience:
Fortunately for me there are plenty of meetings in my town. But the help I have gotten has been immense and if ever called upon to start a new meeting, my hand will go up quickly because I know there are many out there that are not as fortunate and need that face to face contact that they are currently lacking. I know that their survival could depend on the attendance of an ACA meeting and personally interacting with active ACA members. Mine sure was.
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