What I Missed While Trying to Handle Everything Myself
I Thought I Had It Covered For a long time, I believed I could figure things out on my own. That wasn’t something I questioned. It just felt like how things were supposed to work. If something was off, I would think it through, analyze it, and try to understand where...
I Thought I Was Too Overwhelmed to Volunteer
It Felt Like I Was Already Doing Enough For a while, I told myself I was already doing enough. Life felt heavy. Recovery felt like work and just getting to meetings some weeks took more effort than I wanted to admit. So when the topic of service came up, I’d...
Crocheting a Recovery
Crochet is very simple Just yarn and one hook Videos teach the basic stitches Recovery is very simple, too Just me and meetings Literature and fellow travelers to help me There are no knots in crochet My fingers and the hook pull the yarn around and through and...
The Inner Child Wasn’t What I Thought
It Sounded Abstract to Me I didn’t understand what people meant by “inner child.” I’d hear it in meetings, in readings, in conversations after – your inner child needs this, or that’s your inner child reacting. To me, it sounded vague and maybe even a little forced. I...
I Used to Think It Was Just a Basket
When I first started coming to ACA meetings, I didn’t pay much attention to the basket. It was just part of the closing – something mentioned near the end, along with a few announcements. Whether I was sitting in a room or logging into a meeting online, it felt like...
I Almost Decided ACA Wasn’t for Me Before I Ever Walked In
When I first heard about ACA – Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families – I made a quick decision: this probably didn’t apply to me. Alcohol hadn’t really been part of my home growing up. There wasn’t anything I would have pointed to and said, this is...
Honoring My Character Defects in Step 7
Honestly & Humbly After spending a couple of months working Step 7, I came to a very important realization: humbly asking my Higher Power to remove my shortcomings and to aid in my healing process is more about honestly and non-judgmentally acknowledging where I...
I Used to Think It Had to Be a Big Change
When I first started coming around ACA, I heard people talk about how much their lives had changed. They spoke about breakthroughs, about finally feeling free, about becoming someone they didn’t think they could be. And I remember thinking… that’s great. But I don’t...
What Service Really Means in ACA
When the Word “Service” Feels Big For some of us, the word service can feel intimidating. It may bring to mind responsibility, leadership roles, or expectations we’re not sure we’re ready for. We might picture experienced members running meetings or taking on...
You Won’t Do This Alone
Some of us learned early that we had to handle things on our own. We may not have said it out loud. It may not have even felt like a decision. But somewhere along the way, many of us learned to rely on ourselves first and last. We figured out how to manage, how to...