How has participation been significant to your recovery?
As Concept Four states, “Participation is the key to harmony.” Participation marks a turning point—from isolation to belonging. By sharing our experience, strength, and hope, sponsoring others, or doing service, we not only strengthen our own recovery but also build meaningful connections. When we participate, we connect to something greater than ourselves.
April’s blog topic is: “How has participation been significant to your recovery?”
As always, you can also write about Al‑Anon’s three Legacies. This month features Step Four, Tradition Four, and Concept Four.
Sharings on the Member Blog may be used in future Al‑Anon publications.
New topics are being added each month!
I was about one year in Al-Anon when I started going to district and Area meetings. I gained growth from being there. To me, these where just another form of an Al-Anon meeting. They weren’t topic meetings, but they were. Nor were they book study, yet they were. To me, they were my Live meetings. That is where I got to practice Al-Anon in real time, just like I have to do in my real life. And I get to do it in an Al-Anon environment. It was 2 more years before I took on a service position. For me,… Read more »
Participation is the Key to harmony, reminds me of our booklet When I got busy, I got better (P-78). As I got busy in Al-anon I was able to leave some of the stress of daily life behind. I gained so much more from the program and service work that I did. I gained confidence, purpose, and so much more. I will be forever grateful.
My participation in all the aspects our program suggests – attending meetings, reading the literature, having a sponsor, being a sponsor, working the steps, studying the traditions and concepts, participating in service – has contributed to my recovery. In order for me to reap all the benefits of recovery, I need to participate in all the ways. My participation in each of these things has benefitted my recovery; my participation in the combination of all of these things has expanded and accelerated my recovery. I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in Al-Anon service. Service work gives me… Read more »
Participaction in my Al-Anon program, meetings, & Al-Anon days get togethers mean a great deal to me. I look very much forward to these events & happenings because I am always learning something new. Also, I meet new people, & newcomers, seeing folks from other Al-Anon groups that I haven’t seen for a long time. Every member’s story is different & unique, but yet we all hail from the dysfunction caused by the alcoholics drinking & we learn that our stories & experiences are very similar to one another. We listen to each other with open minds & hearts, we… Read more »
I actively participate in my own recovery through being of service in meetings and assemblies. By sharing my own experience, strength and hope, as well as, welcoming newcomers and smiling, I take the attention off my own heartache. My focus shifts from worrying about my alcoholic son to contributing to the hope of the program. It has taken many years of practicing my program to finally start to mind my own business. I have been good about keeping my mouth shut but my thoughts and feelings show loud and clear on my face. My loving Higher Power is helping me… Read more »
The question for me is more along the lines of: How has participation changed my life? Being of service in Al-Anon has made an enormous difference in the way I get up in the morning. I wake up with a deep sense of gratitude for all my Higher Power has blessed me with, and it motivates me to give back to the program that has been a foundational part of my getting better from the effects of this generational family disease of alcoholism. My loved one isn’t sober, isn’t in recovery and despite that harsh reality, I am doing well.… Read more »
Participation includes daily reading of Conference Approved Literature, usually in the morning before I start my day. Recently, I’ve participated in meditation & prayer with my Higher Power, whenever I read from “How Al-Anon Works.” Its Two Parts outline the spiritual principles of Al-Anon and share stories of experience, strength, and hope that help me identify with the writer of that story. These basics of connection between God, me, and the fellowship affirm that I am not alone. There are others in Al-Anon Family Groups who face the same problems I have faced and worse. Yet, our stories have one… Read more »
Participation through service is an immense help to me in practicing my program. I’m involved in regular service at my home meeting, and volunteer for district events off and on throughout the year. It helps me feel grounded and connected as I meet Al-Anon volunteers and get to know them a bit more than I do just in the meetings, and it is very important to me. Growing up in the family disease of alcoholism left me feeling chronically lonely and alone. Participating in Al-Anon helps keep me grounded more in the here and now. I’m so grateful for Al-Anon.
I live in Poland, and participate in meetings since 444 weeks. I go every Monday at 6 pm. Everybody in my family and among my friends know, that this is my holy time. I rest there and I gaining strength for the whole week. I am calm, and happy when I come back. I can deal with very difficult issues. I have friends, who always answer the phone. Because of my change, everybody in my family had to change. We are nicer for each other, we talk a lot, we life together with Steps. Even if they do not know… Read more »
After many years in Al-Anon I joined an information board in my county. My recovery blossomed I at that point have any appointment🌺 I had a budget every year of about $600 I was able to buy a lot of Al-Anon conference approved literature. I attended many outreach opportunities, and I Gave information to hundreds and hundreds of families I invited other Al-Anon members to come with me and then we became much closer with a very special bond A couple of times at my local beach people would reach out and say my husband or my sister or someone… Read more »
At first my participation was not only a way to serve but it was a way to get away from my alcoholic husband! Over time it became a way to listen, learn and connect more deeply with others who were experiencing some of the same challenges. GR service led me to District where I served as webmaster, DR, and eventually as assistant to the Area panel. I learned the importance of self-care. Sadly, my husband never recovered from his disease. I have had many spiritual experiences as I’ve traversed these paths. I am a lifer!
I live in Los Angeles, CA. When I joined Al-Anon several years ago, I was newly married to an alcoholic, and things weren’t going well. I got a sponsor who told me to take a commitment. The first available commitment was to be a greeter for one month at my Tuesday night meeting. A couple of weeks later, my spouse said a lady friend of his had invited us to an event at Disneyland on a Tuesday night. This would have involved driving about 50 miles on a weeknight. At first, I said yes, but I didn’t really want to… Read more »
Participation was foreign to me. I was not allowed to participate in my family. I was told what to do and when to do it, and as hard as I tried to please my mother, I never did it right. I never received a pat on the back or a “good job”. What I did receive was “that’s not how you do it, who taught you to do it that way, why can’t you ever do anything right? you’re never going to amount to anything because you don’t know how to do anything”. I shut down. My self-worth was nowhere… Read more »
For me, the first step in participation was simply attending my first meeting, where I realized I wasn’t alone. Although our stories and experiences were different, it seemed that the effects of the disease were the same on all of us. I was in a safe place where I gradually learned to feel comfortable sharing my story without fear of judgement. Hearing others speak gave me a realistic goal to reach for, if they could do it, so could I. When I actively listen, I am participating and learning. When I share, I am listening to myself which gives me… Read more »