Asking for Help

These meetings are where you get help working the steps which help you change.

In 1982, I went to my first 12-step meeting. I really didn’t think my problem was out of control, but I sat there as someone explained how the program worked. Then, something the moderator said caught my attention. “You will have to learn how to ask for help,” she announced. “Not me,” I said to myself. “I don’t need anybody’s help.” As the meeting continued I listened attentively. Then, at some point, I began to have a feeling of homecoming. I could not explain it, but I felt as if I was in the right place--that I had come home after a long journey. I started crying and in embarrassment I turned my face to the wall. The woman next to me raised her hand and said, “How do you know you belong here?” “You just know,” I whispered to myself. “You just know.”