He explained having always searched for something since when he was a young boy. His life was always dominated by fear, the biggest being the fear of rejection, yet he ended up rejecting loved ones along the way. At the convention, titled ‘From Misery to Happiness’, AA members shared their experiences, their views of alcoholism as an illness, how alcoholism ruined their lives and how they regained control, in a number of meetings. “AA gives you a prescription and you meet people who share experiences. It has room for all people of all shapes, beliefs and non-beliefs,” another man said. Drink is often seen as a solution and even though alcoholics may promise loved ones they would stop drinking, it is very difficult for them to keep this promise without someone helping. As a result, alcoholics and their family members go through a lot. “I was very selfish and self-centred”, the man continued. While he always managed to keep down a job, there were times he was unreliable and everyone got fed up of him. He had been drinking heavily since the age of 15 and married at 21. While his wife tried to help him suggesting he joins AA, he was not up to it. Eventually, when he lost everything and was living in the cheapest property surrounded by cockroaches, he moved back with his parents and caused them to argue often too – something he had never experienced in his family household before. It was then that his father forced him to join AA. The journey was rocky but he learned to take love from AA members and accept it, and he stopped drinking. While he had always thought he was in control, he learned that he hadn’t been. In reality, he had no choices when he went to AA and now he has. Over the years since joining, he learned so much about himself which he didn’t know. Acceptance, he realised, was the answer to all his problems. He learned patience and tolerance and that answers for things would come slowly. “We were human beings before we were alcoholics,” another man said. Alcoholism is a mental, physical and spiritual problem and until he joined AA, well into his adulthood, he was still a child. The best thing he learned is to share and when the group, with help it receives from psychologists and psychiatrists, brought him back to health, he took over.   Alcoholics Anonymous can be reached on 79239264 or by email: [email protected]. It is situated at 66, Archbishop Street, Valletta. More information is available at www.aamalta.org.