What to do if you're new

Go to a ton of meetings. Try different places and different times. You'll find your tribe. If you don't like one meeting, try a few others before making up your mind.

Meetings on the Big Book and the Twelve Steps may be more useful to find out about the AA programme. Meeting listings will give you an indication of the topic.

Try to identify with what people say about their drinking. Look for the similarities, not the differences. Identify more than you compare.

Ask yourself: Are these people doing better than me? Are they sober? Are they thriving? Not everyone will be, as we're all on a journey. But maybe find a group where plenty of people are sober, thriving, or at least doing better than they did.

Go for coffee, breakfast, lunch, or dinner after the meeting (depending when and where the meeting is held), take people's numbers, and talk to them on the phone in between meetings.

'Test drive' people by presenting questions and problems to them and see if their explanations make sense and their suggestions work when practised. If someone makes you feel super uncomfortable or edgy, maybe try someone else. If everyone makes you feel super uncomfortable or edgy, it might be you, not them. Some of us can be sensitive, and it can take a while to get past that.

Get some service at a group. That means helping out with some of the practical tasks.

Pick a group or two to go to regularly so you start to get to know people.

Listen to recordings of AA speakers on the Internet. There are a lot. Google 'AA speakers'. Youtube is one good place to start.

Read some AA literature every day. Maybe read some of the basic text (anything up to page 164: start by opening the cover and progressing from there) in the morning. Maybe read one of the 42 stories that appear after the basic text last thing at night.

Reach out to the Higher Power (God, saints, other figures from your religion, nature, goodness, spirit, energy, ancestors who have passed on, whatever you like) and ask for sobriety, ask for direction, ask for strength, say 'thank you', and listen out for the Higher Power to speak back. It's the quiet voice of calm, goodness, and common sense behind the shouty, angry, frightened, guilty voice of the ego.

Don't drink no matter what. You can do that for twenty-four hours, even if the thought of staying sober forever appals you. Postpone the drink until tomorrow.

Don't hang out in drinking places or drinking people if it can be avoided, at least until you're on steady ground.

If you feel agitated, doubtful, or thirsty (for alcohol), reach out to the Higher Power and others in AA and do what your new friends in AA suggest.

As soon as you're pretty sure you can't moderate or stop drinking on your own and need AA's help for real, get a sponsor and start working the Twelve Steps. If it doesn't work out, you can find someone else at any time, so there's no risk.