This Is A.A. Is Not a Costume

Someone put a thin pamphlet in your hand and you read it like a dress code. You looked at your jacket, the way you talk, the mess of this week, and decided you would have to become a different kind of person before a chair would hold you.

That decision is why you are still in the kitchen. This Is A.A., pamphlet P-1, is an introduction. It describes the kind of people A.A.s are and what they have learned about alcoholism. It is for anyone who thinks they may have a problem with alcohol. A description of people who already found the rooms is not an outfit you have to put on first. You can think you have a problem and still look like yourself.

The portrait is not a uniform

The pamphlet is doing a simple job. It tells a new reader what kind of people are in A.A., and what those people learned about alcoholism. You are allowed to be earlier than the portrait. The reader it names is anyone who thinks they may have a problem. Thinking it, on a bad night, counts. You do not finish becoming the description and then apply.

If the type is hard on your eyes, large-print P-56 is the same introduction in bigger type. Bigger type is for reading. It is not a stricter edition for people who need to prove they are serious. You can leave the regular copy and the large-print copy on the counter. Groups normally offer pamphlets free of charge. An unfinished free pamphlet is not a debt you pay by changing your clothes or sanding down your story.

The long form of Tradition Three says membership ought never depend on money or conformity. A costume is conformity. The short form is even plainer. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. The desire can be shaky. It can show up after you have already decided you are the wrong type. It is still the line. Matching a pamphlet's portrait is not an extra requirement someone forgot to print.

A.A. has been one alcoholic sharing with another for more than 80 years. That history is not a personality you inherit at the door. You do not arrive already sounding like the people who have been around. You arrive wanting to stop, or wondering if you want to stop. The wondering is a human place to start. The pamphlet can wait on the table while you find out whether a room helps.

The chair does not inspect you

You are welcome regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, income, or profession. There are no dues or fees. You can sit and listen, or you can share. If a basket comes around, a contribution is up to you. Nobody is owed a new personality in exchange for the hour.

Introducing yourself is not mandatory. You need not join a prayer. After the meeting, talk is optional, so you can leave in the same jacket. People in the room talk about what drinking did, what they did to stop, and how they live now. The point of that talk is experience, strength, and hope. You can hear it without performing a cleaned-up version of your own week.

Closed meetings are for members, or for people with a drinking problem and a desire to stop drinking. Open meetings are for anyone interested, and a person who does not drink may attend as an observer. If you want the hour aimed at the drinking, look for a closed meeting. If you only want to see what the hour is like before you say anything about yourself, an open meeting is enough.

Meetings are in person, online, or by phone. An online meeting can be video on, video off, or a dial-in. If walking through a doorway feels like walking onstage, video off lets you listen without arranging your face. aa.org is not a meeting finder. Local A.A. lists are. The meetings search is a place to start, and those listings are not verified, so confirm the time with the group or the local list before you count on the room.

The group sets its own format. You might land in a discussion, a speaker meeting, a beginners meeting, or an hour on a Step, a Tradition, or the Big Book. A speaker talks about what they were like, what happened, and what they are like now. You are not the speaker tonight. You are a person who can listen. Beginners meetings are a format some groups use. They are not a class where P-1 is the homework.

When your body is louder than the pamphlet

Shame about how you look in a room can wait. Your body might not. Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. If you have been drinking heavily over time and you stop suddenly, NIAAA says withdrawal can be life-threatening. A meeting cannot manage that. NIDA says mutual-help groups such as A.A. are peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment. The hour is peer support, not detox.

FindTreatment.gov lists programs if you need care a meeting does not give. SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is free, confidential, and available 24/7 in English and Spanish.

Go in the clothes you have

Tonight, use the meetings search and confirm a time. Go and listen. Do not change your clothes for it. Do not rewrite your story into something smoother on the way over. Take a desire to stop, even a small one, and leave P-1 where it is. You can read what A.A.s have learned on a calmer day. The chair does not require a costume, and the room does not need a new version of you before it will let you hear someone else tell the truth.

Call (800) 653-9376 if you need treatment; the call is free to you, treatment providers pay for the referral, the line is not an intergroup, and the line is not A.A., and it is not SMART Recovery.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

• A.A. World Services: 2025 Literature Catalog
• A.A.: The Twelve Traditions
• A.A.: What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting
• A.A.: Need help with a drinking problem?
• A.A.: Find A.A. near you
• A.A.: Conference-approved literature (SMF-29)
• NIDA: Treatment, including mutual-help groups
• NIAAA Core Resource: Alcohol Use Disorder, From Risk to Diagnosis to Recovery
• SAMHSA National Helpline
• SAMHSA FindTreatment.gov
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
• SmarterRecovery meetings page (public meeting search; listings are not verified)
• SmarterRecovery about page (calling is free to the caller)

Common Questions