Testimonials to 12 Step Programs

The “Big Book”, Alcoholics Anonymous contains many testimonials:

• Pioneers of AA
• They Stopped in Time
• They Lost Nearly All

A small selection of other enduring messages of gratitude from people who have recovered through 12 step programmes are included here :

Alcoholics

Winner Takes All

… In working the Twelve Steps, my life and my old way of thinking have changed.  I have no control over some of the things that happen in my life, but with the help of a power greater than myself I can now choose how I will respond.  Today I choose to be happy, and when I’m not, I have the tools of this programme to put me back on track… Winner Takes All

Freedom from bondage

… This great experience that released me from the bondage of hatred and replaced it with love is really just another affirmation of the truth I know: I get everything I need in Alcoholics Anonymous – and everything I need I get. And when I get what I need, I invariably find that it is just what I needed all along. Reprinted from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.

A.A. taught him to handle sobriety

… The more I drank, the more I fantasised everything.  I imagined getting even for hurts and rejections.  In my mind’s eye I played and replayed scenes in which I was plucked majically from the bar where I stood nursing a drink and was instantly exalted to some position of power and prestige.  I lived in a dream world. A.A. led me gently from this fantasising to embrace reality with open arms. And I found it beautiful! For, at last I was at peace with myeslf.  And with others. And… A.A. Taught him to handle sobriety.

Gratitude to A.A. World Services, Inc

Many of the messages of gratitude included on this page are Personal Stories in the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, reprinted here with the permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.