SlogAAns & sAAyings

Here’s a list of different expressions that are heard in Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings. They’re arranged alphabetically.

(If you’re looking for a Dictionary/Glossary of Alcoholic Anonymous terms, please click here.)

Act As If

If you’re sad, act like you’re happy.

If you’re angry, act like you’re calm.

If you’re afraid, act as though you’re brave.

The miracle of this is that, after acting happy, calm and brave long enough, you’ll become happy, calm, and brave.

Of course it’s not that simple… Except it is.

[See “Fake It ‘Til You Make It”]

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Fake It ‘Til You Make It

Act like you are happy / capable / together / outgoing / patient / calm / etc. until you actually are.

[See “Act As If”]

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It Works Until It Doesn’t

It’s Stopped Working

Addicts begin using their drug of choice as self medication for a variety of ailments, and the treatment is efficient until “using” became “abusing” and “treatment” became “mistreatment”. The old methods work until they don’t work anymore. When the cure becomes the disease, alcoholics in recovery seek out healthier methods of dealing.

(For those of us in Alcoholics Anonymous, this realization is Step 1 material. “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.“)

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A Pickle Can’t Go Back To Being a Cucumber

Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you pickled to see me?

Alcohol has pickled our brains and now we’re permanently alcoholics. No matter how much not-drinking we do, we will never go back to being non-alcoholics. We cannot reverse our chemical make up and become “normal” again. It’s like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube, or adult attempting to believe in Santa Claus once more.

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Suit Up & Show Up

Go to a meeting. Especially if you don’t feel like going to one.

If you feel like you need a meeting, you really do.
If you feel like you don’t need a meeting, then you really really do.
If you’re not sure you need a meeting, you still really do.

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Think! Think! Think!

In AA speak, the slogan “Think! Think! Think!” means stop listening to your gut and start listening to the voice of reason. As alcoholics, we were dogs salivating for booze as soon as the warning bells went off, and the more we drank the faster and louder those bells rang. We we drank instinctively.

“Think! Think! Think!” tells us to stop acting on reflexes and keep our brains turned on.

(In some rooms, the “Think! Think! Think!” sign is turned upside down to tell us that yes, we need to think, but we need to think differently than we did in the past because our alcoholic thinking led us into a bottleneck.)

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