Throughout the holiday season, some family members find themselves filled with worry and fear as the reality of a loved one’s drinking problem often overshadows the gifts and any new happy memories. In Al‑Anon, those worried about someone’s alcoholism or alcohol addiction come together to find support and to learn new ways to cope with the effects of loving someone who has a drinking problem.

Anna, an anonymous Al‑Anon member, shares how her Sponsor helped her overcome her fear of the unknown. Watch her interview to find out more.

If your life has been affected by the family disease of alcoholism, consider attending a few Al‑Anon meetings or Alateen meetings for teens.

Disclaimer:

This interview was recorded at the 2018 Al‑Anon International Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Members were asked to share about various aspects of the Al‑Anon program and their personal experience.

Members’ anonymity is protected so that they can share openly and honestly about their experience with a loved one’s drinking and with the Al‑Anon program.

The opinions expressed in this video were strictly those of the person who gave them.

INTERVIEWER: People often say that they have experienced fear in really alcoholic relationships. Have you had experience with that and what have you learned in Al‑Anon to help you deal with that?

ANNA: I was a fear based all my life, and I was fearful of what was going to happen, which were all projections, as we call them, in Al‑Anon, because they hadn’t really even happened. But I imagined that by thinking of the worse, I could prepare myself to face the disaster that was about to happen, or by remembering things that happened in the past and fearing that a repetition of the occurrence was about to happen again.

So, my Sponsor, one of the first things she did is have me write down my fears on a piece of paper. And when I looked at them in black and white, they lost a lot of the power that they had when they were floating around in my head. The second thing is I talked them over with her and we reasoned things out.

And the third thing is I replaced it little by little as my faith in a higher power who looks after me grew. I replaced fear with faith and lastly, I stay in today. Now is all I have when I’m thinking of about the future or, you know, worrying about what’s going to happen or what happened already. I’m not in today. I’m totally losing touch with my reality.

INTERVIEWER: Thank you, Anna. Very powerful.