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“To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends—this is an experience you must not miss.”

Alcoholics Anonymous

By its very nature, alcoholism cuts off the drinker from the world. Being drunk, having hangovers, and suffering from alcoholic thinking is like being in a cocoon. For some of us, isolation—actual or imagined—was a refuge where we could drink and hang out in resentment, regret, anger, lust, and fantasies of glory, safe from the disappointments of real life. We became attached to the idea of being loners, even in a crowd, convinced that we were different from other people. We were sometimes better, sometimes worse, sometimes both—“the arrogant doormat” syndrome—but rarely a part of things.

Emerging from that cocoon, coming out of isolation, is the way we start to recover. We learn to be a part of AA by going to meetings, making a commitment to a home group, listening to other members’ stories, and picking up coffee cups or saying hello to another newcomer.

Some AAs prefer sociability and people; others of us need occasional times of solitude. Some of us like to serve on committees; others prefer to do quieter acts of service. But most of us come to feel that being part of the community, the fellowship, and the program of Alcoholics Anonymous is a way to step out of the dark night of alcoholic isolation and into “the Sunlight of the Spirit.” It’s a good place to be.