Daily readings from Al-Anon's Magazine The Forum • Recovery Reflections • Quote/Sayings

Friday 9/11/26

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Insecurity doesn't always sound like, "I don't like myself." Sometimes it sounds like constantly finding something wrong with somebody else. People who are genuinely at peace with themselves don't need to pick other people apart to feel better about who they are.

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Sharing is healing. --Cathy Stone

It's not easy to share the intimate details of our lives. We have guarded our secrets for years. But now it's suggested that we tell our secrets to people whose names we barely know. That's certainly not the way we were raised, and listening to others reveal their awful truths startles us initially. However, we can't help but notice how much better than us other people seem to feel. We eventually understand that the more we open up, the less encumbered we'll feel by the past.

The magic in sharing our experience, strength, and hope with others is hard to define. We simply know that when we do it, we feel relieved of our burden and we help someone else feel less isolated. We have come together because we want to get well.

I will make sure I'm not keeping something to myself today that's causing me pain. Whoever I share it with will be helped too.

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Alcoholism is a Disease

When I was 14 years old, my family moved from the country to the city.  That was a big change for me.  I never saw my father drink until we moved.  It was quite a shock.  My father told my mother that his drinking was her fault. I believed him and began to feel very resentful towards my mother.  I had no idea what alcoholism was.
 
We went on a trip to Disneyland that fall.  I didn’t know this at the time, but my father promised not to drink in front of us on the trip.  My father was very thirsty when we got to California.  Being a man of his word, he took a flight back to Manitoba---he did say he wouldn’t drink in front of us.
 
My mother decided that we were going to continue our holiday and have a good time without my father.  One day we were driving and a plane flew over us.  I remember my mother laughed and said, “Wave.  Your dad could be on that plane.”  At the time I thought that was a very sick thing to say.  I was unaware that she already had a program and had found a sense of humor.
 
When we returned home, my mom made me go to Alateen.  It was the best thing she could have done for me.  The most important thing for me at Alateen was learning that alcoholism is a disease.  It wasn’t my father’s fault.  He loved me the only way he knew how at the time.  Other kids in Alateen felt the same way I did.  I learned to stop resenting my mother.  This was my first experience with the program. Thank you, Al-Anon, for being there for my mother 25 years ago.  Mom, I love you.  Thank you.

By Diane G., Manitoba April, 2002

Reprinted with permission of The Forum, Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA.

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