As I Am

The thing that kept me coming back to AA was that no one told me to change myself. Before AA, my life had been totally controlled by guilt and shame. Now, for the first time in my life, people just wanted me to be me and said that if I followed the AA program, I'd change in spite of myself. I did what they said: I worked the Steps, went to meetings, got a sponsor, got into service work, and changed. I found AA to be a guilt-free program. Because I couldn't change myself but had let my Higher Power and AA change me, I couldn't take credit for growth or feel guilt over setbacks; after all, if I could change myself, I wouldn't need a program.