Personal Narrative: My First Twelve Step Meetings

I attended my first twelve step meeting on March 5th. I decided to go to this one because it was an open meeting, in a good location, and on a Sunday. I figured the crowd would be bigger on a Sunday because people wouldn’t be busy with work. The meeting was located at 511 Melrose Avenue, right across the street from Slater Hall. I left my sorority house around 9:00 a.m. so I could make it to the 9:45 meeting. Unfortunately, I do not have a car on campus so I had to walk there. However, it was a beautiful day and I did not mind the walk at all! The meeting was in a little yellow house with a big burgundy door and a cute wrap around porch. Thinking back, I had definitely passed this house during football season countless times as I walked to

I always pictured these meetings to be filled with people you knew were addicts just by looking at them. I thought everyone would be sad or crying or suffering from some kind of withdrawals. I even thought of them as more of a religious group because of the twelve steps and how they turn to God for help. However, this is not how this meeting was at all. Everyone there looked like normal people you would see on the streets or in the local grocery store. People were smiling as they announced their accomplishments. There were some sad moments when someone would share how they got addicted or the bad things that happened in their life because of alcohol. The majority of the time, though, was very positive. This meeting was also more of a support group than a religious group. Although I do not have any sort of addiction, I believe that if I did, a twelve step program would be effective. These meetings would not only help me realize that I am not alone with my addiction but that I can also get clean. I think seeing the number of people going through the same thing that I am as well as other’s accomplishments would push me to keep going in my recovery. Overall, I think the most important thing I got out of this meeting was that you should seek progress and not perfection. Everyone struggles with things throughout their lives and everyone encounters hardships. With any difficult time in life, hard decisions must be made and actions need to be taken to move forward in the right direction. However, you do not have to be alone in this process. I believe that as long as people keep working through the hard times, while lifting one another up, something good will always come out of