Alcoholics Anonymous in France there for 'dangerous' Christmas period

WITH the festive period quickly approaching the Alcoholics Anonymous France South West Intergroup offer some support and details on how you can attend meetings conducted in English in France.

Promise me you won’t drink so much this Christmas. You always spoil it for everyone, especially the kids. You made a complete idiot of yourself last night – you embarrassed everyone.

Have you ever heard those words said to you, or perhaps you’ve used them yourself to a friend or family member?

Christmas is a wonderful time for anyone who might be drinking too much already. Why? Because they don’t have to try to hide the amount that they are drinking.

They don’t have to get rid of the empties secretly. Nobody is concerned if they have a hangover in the morning. Nobody minds too much if they make a complete fool of themselves. And forgetting what they did the night before is a joke (isn’t it?)

But if any of this applies to you or someone you care about, and it is causing trouble or unhappiness, don’t despair, there is help available.

Many people shy away from Alcoholics Anonymous because of misconceptions about AA.

We aren’t a temperance society wanting to ban alcohol, or a religious cult, and we don’t try to recruit members. We are just ordinary people who have found a way of managing our illness one day at a time by not drinking.

We believe that alcoholism is an illness (and the British Medical Association and the American Medical Association agree) and therefore no shame should be attached to it.

We also say that the disease of alcoholism is like an elevator that is only going one way - down.

But you do have a choice as to which floor you get off, you don’t need to go all the way to the bottom. You don’t need to have reached the stage of drinking alone in your lounge or on a park bench.

Neither do you have to have lost your driving licence, marriage, children, friends, job or your freedom. (But all these could happen later.)

Remember, you do have a choice - you can choose to ask for help.

If any of this rings a bell why not contact us?

Our websites give details of English-speaking meetings, together with telephone numbers of members who are available to talk to you in confidence.

www.aafrancesud-ouest.com
www.aa-riviera.org
www.aa-europe.net
www.aaparis.org