It is not a matter of where we drink. Some of us were bar drinkers, some were literally closet drinkers, drinking only alone at home. It is not a matter of economic circumstances . AA members include judges, surgeons, entertainers, auto mechanics, waitresses, and people who were living under bridges at the end of their drinking careers. It is not a matter of race or ethnic origin .
Alcoholism is an equal opportunity disease.
The one common element is that we cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving more alcoho l. One exercise you might take is to write down on a piece of paper all those things you have done in your life that have caused you the most regret, remorse, guilt, or shame, and then put a check mark next to the ones that occurred while you had been drinking. Many of us have again shrugged off such exercises because we were always drinking so of course those things occurred while we were drinking - everything in our lives occurred while we were drinking. Only when we were able to overcome that strange compulsion to take that first drink and started associating with different people and living different lifestyles did we realize that our basic assumption was wrong - not everyone drinks like we did, and there is an association between alcohol and things like family arguments, DUI's, and just generally feeling bad about ourselves. A. Most AA clubs and Central Service Offices are listed in the Yellow Pages under Alcohol or Alcoholism.