I was really nervous about going to my first AA meeting too.

There are two kinds of meetings, open & closed.

Open meetings - anyone can go to, so you can bring a non-alcoholic friend for support. They're usually, or at least up here they are, speaker meetings, meaning there are some readings at the beginning, and then someone gets up and shares their experience with drinking, getting sober, and how life is today. I found those meetings a lot less intimidating to start, since nobody expects you to talk. I only went to open meetings for the first little while.

Closed meetings are usually smaller and are discussions, of the big book, the steps, or a topic. I like them a lot better now, and they're mainly what I go to. Even at those meetings if you don't feel like talking, you can say something like "I just want to listen tonight."

Good luck with it, and I hope that you can get up the courage to go. AA's helped me a lot.

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