A letter to whoever is reading this

From the fellowship · to whoever is reading this

Dear friend,

If you are reading this at three in the morning, with the silence of the kitchen behind you, we are glad you found the page. You are not the first. Many of us came here at exactly that hour, having eaten exactly what we said we would not, or smoked it, or drunk it, or all three.

We do not know your name. We do not need to. The fellowship is built so that you can sit in a room with us, every day if you like, without anyone asking. You can keep your camera off. You can mute the microphone. You can stay for ten minutes and leave. You can come back tomorrow.

There are five substances. Alcohol. Drugs. Nicotine. Caffeine. Sugar and carbohydrates. Most of us, before AWNA, had quietly given up on at least one of them and were busy escalating with the others. We did not know there was a room for the whole problem at once. There is now.

What we have, that we did not invent and cannot improve, is the company of each other and the Twelve Steps as practiced in our own way. Neither of those things will rescue you from the night you are in. They will, with enough days, make the nights you have not yet lived less likely to look like this one.

You are welcome at the next meeting. The schedule is on the homepage. The next door opens soon — almost always within twelve hours. There is no waiting room. There is no list. There is no fee. There is, here, a chair.

Whatever you have done tonight, the morning is still available to you. Day 1 is not a punishment. It is a door. Some of us have walked through it many times. The door does not get tired.

Come quietly. Stay as long as you need.