AA meetings impose no restrictions, no rules, and no fee. Yet, they demand the 5 D’s from participants to make the meetings fruitful.
What are these 5 D’s, and why are they so vital for a successful recovery?
In fact, as you will find out, these D’s are important for success in any field in life.
The 5 D’s of success
- Dream
- Desire
- Direction
- Discipline
- Determination
Dream and desire
Everything starts with a dream. When you dream of a sober life, you will seek ways to have it.
Eventually, a desire arises in you to become sober. You search for “AA meetings near me,” and you come across a meeting in your area. You join it.
Your journey toward sobriety begins.
Direction
Participating in meetings gives your desired direction. In the meetings, you listen to others who are like you and to those who have recovered. You share your own stories. You become enlightened by the ways to quit drinking and maintain sobriety. You interact with like-minded people who have the same desire.
Discipline
To achieve anything in life, you need discipline. This also holds true for achieving lifetime sobriety.
The first thing to discipline yourselves about is to attend every meeting. Participate with complete attention and the burning desire to quit drinking.
Work on yourselves in between the meetings.
Connect with a therapist, or you may also join an outpatient rehab program, along with the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. This will help you address your physical and emotional issues simultaneously, while in the meetings you get a strong support system that keeps you motivated. You can share your everyday achievements in the group.
For an alcoholic, going without alcohol for one whole day is an achievement. Doing this every day is a raring feat. You must share this with other members in the meetings. The applause and recognition that you get will help you continue in your sobriety journey.
Determination
Discipline and determination go hand in hand. You can discipline yourselves only when you have determination.
Tools like Sobriety Calculator strengthen your determination because when your brain sees the visual results (the exact number of sober days), it gets a ‘kick’ of a different kind. Now, it wants to achieve a number higher than this. So, you automatically want to stay off alcohol to achieve a higher sobriety number.
All these and the regular meetings work together to infuse excitement in you to do something big and useful in life. In this case, it is quitting drinking that will help you restore your physical and mental health and make you productive.
Crux
If you dream of a sober life, then it is time to create a strong desire in you to quit drinking. Once you have the desire, you can join an AA meeting in Arizona. The pre-requisite to joining meetings of AA is a desire to quit drinking.
Joining meetings gives you direction. Now is your chance to discipline yourselves through determination.
When all the 5 D’s fall in place, you find yourselves getting sober and better in life.
