• This Month's Poll

Each month, we ask a question (or questions) of interest to our local fellowship and post the results of the previous month's poll.

December 2008 (Poll #2)

Keep Coming Back! It Works!

Number of respondents: 25

What did you hear at your first meeting that convinced you to come back for your second meeting?

• "Go to at least 6 meetings so you can hear your story... I heard my story at the first meeting and also wanted the solution the man told me about."
• "A man was talking about sex. He said that he knew there were other things in life that were fun, but they were so much LESS fun than sex, that it was almost as if they didn't exist. I completely identified with that idea. I asked him to be my sponsor and we started working the steps together."
• "People were staying sober and telling the truth about their addiction, and had a program that worked."
• "In my 1st meeting, people read all 3 circles. So I learned recovery was about stopping addictive behaviors and doing healthy ones like self-care. Everyone's honesty encouraged me to be that honest too. As a male addict, I also felt less isolated and "different" because both men and women attended."
• "I heard several members share deeply personal and vulnerable accounts of their experiences before and after beginning the program."
• "The guy sitting next to me told me my story."
• "I don't recall. I would guess that what affected me the most was not what was said but how it was said. The honesty, heart-felt feelings, vulnerability of members has always had a strong impact on me. I have an admiration for those who share what led them to come to meetings in the first place."
• "I attended the Saturday morning meeting and heard people report long time sobriety. I didn't think I could go 5 days not acting out, now I was hearing people with 5 years! Also someone came up to me and talked to me at the end of the meeting. I owe that person a great debt!"
• "Hope."
• "One guy read his inner circle out loud and it was nearly exactly what I would have written. If HE needed meetings, maybe I did, too."
• "That there were other people like me."
• "The outreach following the meeting was immense and I felt safe and protected. I was desperate and when I heard of the long-term sobriety of some of the folks, I knew I wanted to learn more"
• "I heard a message of hope and felt insprired by people that seemed happy and at ease. I was welcomed by very loving guys."
• "10 people shared things that felt like they had pulled something out of me that I could not have articulated myself.The community! Not only the formal elements but the casual conversations before & afterwards. Organizational feel to it, yet it's grassroots."
• "After the second share I realized that I was not alone in my addiction. There was great relief in that moment. I knew that I was going to come back."
• "Someone shared that their "blind spot" created a sense of purposeful forgetting about how they had harmed others by omission where they had been, that their addiction was not hurting anyone else, and that they "deserved" special time to act out. In SAA, areas of their life improved."
• "I was the second person into the room, and greeted by the set-up person who had over ten years in the program. He was supportive and encouraging in what he said so that I felt comfortable about being there."
• "The concepts "the bubble" and "the circles.""
• "I heard people having sobriety over having anonymous sex over the internet, which was ruining my life. I heard hope, and fellowship, and love."
• "It wasn't what I heard but what I saw - my AA sponsor and three friends from my home AA meeting. I knew I was home."
• "Sincere committed individuals with a desire to stop acting out and to remain sexually sober. Examples of successful recovery, supportive group members, and an atmosphere of acceptance and encouragement."
• "I heard someone describing the exact same behaviors that I was doing, and had believed until then that I was the only one doing it. I heard people talking about stopping the behavior and living full lives. I heard uncensored honesty. I knew that I belonged here and that this was my only option."
• "We read "Our Addiction" out of the SAA Green Book and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought I was so unique and nobody would understand, but it was like somebody reached inside my head and put my life down onto those pages. I knew SAA was the right place for me and that I needed to come back."
• "People's inner circle."
• "In my first meeting six years ago, I finally heard that I was not alone. Although I didn't know anyone at the meeting, I knew I was home."

Thanks to all who participated!

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