Articles
An Al-Anon Group Is an Al-Anon Group—Even Online
I wasn’t sure what bothered me about electronic Al-Anon groups when I first started attending them. They were new and different to me, and with my camera off and a made-up name, I could be completely invisible. I could drop in and out when I felt like it, without...
Photographs in The Forum
We often receive inquiries regarding the photographs of people featured in our magazines. The Forum, Le lien, and En acción are committed to respecting the anonymity and privacy of our members. Based on Traditions Eleven and Twelve and the spiritual principle of...
From Quicksand to Peace
Many years ago, I heard in a meeting, “You don’t have to go to every fight you’re invited to.” As a visual person, I always pictured a fancy invitation offered to me on a silver platter. Some days, I decline gracefully; other days, I scoop it up and react without...
My Disease
Before Al-Anon, I knew little outside of grief. My relationship with the addicted members of my family had transformed from frustration to obsession. Without realizing it, I had built a prison in my mind, where I was convinced that I was trapped and nothing would ever...
Letting Go Saved Us Both
Years ago, I walked into Al-Anon. I had exhausted all my ideas and energy trying to defeat my husband’s alcoholism, which I considered a weakness of character. I tried to keep it a secret within our four walls. I lost courage when, to my chagrin, he publicly displayed...
How Valuable Is Our Al-Anon/Alateen Service Manual (P-24/27)?
When I started attending Al-Anon, I certainly had no idea about the value of our Service Manual. I did not know I could consult it when I had questions about the basics of group meetings, needed clarification about an Al-Anon policy, wanted to know our Delegate’s role...
What Happened to Our Group Binder?
As a longtime Al-Anon member who has attended numerous in-person meetings in two states, I was accustomed to the practice of the meeting chairperson using a binder to lead the meeting. Since joining the World Service Office (WSO) Staff and moving to Virginia Beach,...
The Reason I Came to Al-Anon
While I was having lunch with a new Al-Anon friend, she asked me, “Who brought you to Al-Anon?” It took me just seconds to respond. I brought myself to this program. You see, I have learned that no alcoholic, nor any other person, caused my actions, reactions, or...
My Quiet Half-Hour
“Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax.” I had somehow lost track of this wonderful suggestion from Al-Anon’s Just for Today bookmark (M-12). It’s not that I don’t have quiet half hours; I live alone. Rather, I had lost sight of the...
A Community of Understanding
Fourteen months ago, I was overwhelmed with anxiety and felt completely broken. My desire to control was off the charts as I watched my beautiful 38-year-old daughter—the mother of a precocious five-year-old and wife of a kind and loyal man—sink deeper into the depths...