Inside Alcoholics Anonymous: Tea and humour keep me going back

In an AA room, members are asked to share what it was like when they were drinking, what happened to make them stop and what life is like now.

It is very reassuring to know that there is somewhere to go over the festive season if it all gets too much. File picture

There are two things you will nearly always find in an AA room – tea and a sense of humour. They kept me coming back in the early days when the last thing I wanted to say was my name followed by the words, “I am an alcoholic”.

There is something visceral about saying those words out loud, which is where the tea and the humour come in. Tea makes everything that little bit easier, while humour has a welcome habit of muscling in on even the darkest situations.