The clutches of alcoholic addiction are a terrible thing, ‘the great dissolver’ (of marriages, homes, families, lives, finance and health) as it is known in the fellowship.  

Through taking on the suggested program of recovery – getting a homegroup, attending regular meetings and getting a sponsor – you are promised the following 12 things, though remember, you cannot expect to understand how it will feel right now, because as the 1st promise says, it will be ‘new’ to you

The 12 promises of AA

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.

(1) We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.

(2) We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.

(3) We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.

(4) No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.

(5) That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.

(6) We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.

(7) Self-seeking will slip away.

(8) Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.

(9) Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.

(10) We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.

(11) We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

(12) Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.