Operation: Cooperation

After being encouraged by professionals, I joined AA as a high school student who simply wanted to stop being drunk and miserable. Right away, life took a positive turn. I stayed sober for two years. However, I was convinced that I was invincible. That was not true, which I learned the hard way. I drank again. Five days later, I returned to AA—terrified—and found out what people meant when they said that service was the secret to staying sober. That was over 17 years ago. I was 20 years old, and I’ve been sober ever since.