AWG Secular 12 Step Self-Esteem Group 🚀
Looking for the old site? All of the original materials are still available on https://awg12steps.wordpress.com/
Zoom access and meeting times
Meetings are every Tuesday from 11 am to 12 pm Eastern US Time. See Meeting Time in a Different Time Zone
Join using same Zoom link every Tuesday. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82411424876?pwd=UVg1c0ZXc1dGMmE1c1F5em9udGJjQT09
Meeting ID: 824 1142 4876
Code: 781927
Code: 781927
Emails will be sent out to mailing list members in the rare case of a cancellation.
Get a weekly email reminder for meetings
Meeting description
This is a secular 12 Step meeting focused on self-esteem recovery for late-identified autistic women and members of all other marginalized genders (nonbinary, gender fluid, MTF/FTM trans, agender, autigender, and more).
We meet each Tuesday on Zoom, practice the AWG 12 Steps using the AWG 12 Step Workbook, share in response to weekly readings, and participate in the optional co-mentorship program if we so desire.
It is not mandatory to turn on your mic or camera. Coming to listen is totally fine.
By taking part, we hold space for others, and ourselves, to participate in a way that is manageable for us as we exist right now.
It is not necessary to actively be doing the AWG 12 Steps in order to be a full participant.
Any contact with the group and its resources can be beneficial as long as it’s sustainable for each of us as individuals. Many of us participate simply by attending meetings.
As we participate in this meeting over time, we might find ourselves seeking to…
• Find our own concept of self-esteem and grow toward it
It is not mandatory to turn on your mic or camera. Coming to listen is totally fine.
By taking part, we hold space for others, and ourselves, to participate in a way that is manageable for us as we exist right now.
It is not necessary to actively be doing the AWG 12 Steps in order to be a full participant.
Any contact with the group and its resources can be beneficial as long as it’s sustainable for each of us as individuals. Many of us participate simply by attending meetings.
As we participate in this meeting over time, we might find ourselves seeking to…
• Find our own concept of self-esteem and grow toward it
• Come to discover a more realistic sense of our place in the world
• Reassess our relationships, especially in terms of our responsibilities towards ourselves and others
• Come to understand personal boundaries, their roles in our lives, and how to develop and maintain healthy boundaries
• Understand the concept of nonviolent detachment and how and when to enact it
• Develop more manageable lifestyles
• Develop a sense of self that leads to more health, well being, and manageability in our lives
• Release others from the responsibility of defining or reinforcing our sense of self-esteem
• Form personal goals about self-esteem and self-concept based on our own understanding of our own needs, as they exist today
• Come to understand personal boundaries, their roles in our lives, and how to develop and maintain healthy boundaries
• Understand the concept of nonviolent detachment and how and when to enact it
• Develop more manageable lifestyles
• Develop a sense of self that leads to more health, well being, and manageability in our lives
• Release others from the responsibility of defining or reinforcing our sense of self-esteem
• Form personal goals about self-esteem and self-concept based on our own understanding of our own needs, as they exist today
AWG 12 Step Self-Esteem Readings
Comparing myself to others
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Does comparing yourself with others help or hurt your self-esteem?
Do I compare myself to others often? My first answer was going to be "no", but to be honest, it's still yes. While I no longer compare myself to artificially unattainable standards like mainstream celebrities, I still compare myself to the normal people around me: autistic and ADHD people I meet, my mom, my dad, various members of my spouse's extended family, and probably more. I'm not sure whether this is a bad thing, because some of these people are great role models for living healthy neurodivergent lives. On the other hand, self-comparison can still get me down if I'm already feeling poor self-esteem on a given day. I guess this topic is still pretty confusing for me.
Share questions:
- What does it mean to compare yourself with others?
- Do you feel that you compare yourself to others often? In what ways?
- Does comparing yourself with others help or hurt your self-esteem? Sense of self?
- Are there certain kinds of people you tend to compare yourself to more? Please describe.
- If comparing yourself to others has ever been a function of masking (for example, learning how to improve your own masking), is that still a factor today? In what ways?
- Do you think about the concept of "comparing yourself to others" differently now that you know about autism?
- Any tools, resources, or strategies that helped you?
- Anything else to add?
No comments yet
AWG 12 Step Self-Esteem Workbook
Step 1
We admitted that despite our efforts, many of the factors affecting our sense of self and self-esteem seemed out of control, leading to increased unmanageability in our lives.
Step 2
Coming Soon
Step 3
Coming Soon
Step 4
Coming Soon