AWG Secular 12 Step Self-Esteem Group 🚀

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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


Meeting ID: 824 1142 4876
Code: 781927

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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.
B
y 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.
An
y 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

AWG 12 Step Self-Esteem Readings

Social media and self-esteem

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Some days, scrolling through my feeds feels like finding my people, like finally being seen and understood. Other days, it’s a direct pipeline to anxiety, depression, and that all-consuming existential dread.

By an anonymous contributor

Some days, scrolling through my feeds feels like finding my people, like finally being seen and understood. Other days, it’s a direct pipeline to anxiety, depression, and that all-consuming existential dread.

I have a total love-hate relationship with social media. Actually, it’s more like a full-blown toxic romance. Some days, scrolling through my feeds feels like finding my people, like finally being seen and understood. Other days, it’s a direct pipeline to anxiety, depression, and that all-consuming existential dread.

Social media can be my comfort zone, my stim, my escape when the world gets too loud. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut, my time blindness and hyperfocus turn “just five minutes” into three hours of mindless scrolling and I end up feeling lazy and ashamed.

Social media is actually how I discovered I’m autistic. In fact, the algorithm knew before I did, the posts that kept appearing in my feed cracked open something in me—suddenly, my whole life made sense. For the first time I understood myself and felt understood. I’m genuinely grateful for that.

The biggest problem for me though, is my “justice sensitivity”. Every heartbreaking news story, every injustice, every horror—it all lands on me like a physical weight. I spiral and I can’t shake it off, I can’t “move on” like other people seem to. It becomes almost all consuming and my mental health nosedives fast. So, I delete the apps. Six blissful months pass. I’m calmer, I feel lighter, almost zen. Then the guilt creeps in: What kind of person disconnects from the world? I should at least know what’s happening. So, I think to myself, “I’ll just spend five minutes catching up”—aaaaaand the vortex swallows me whole again. Every. Single. Time.

Share questions:

  • What kind of relationship do you have with social media? How much time do you spend on it, and how does it positively/negatively affect your life?
  • How does social media affect your self-concept? 
  • How does it affect your self-esteem? 
  • How do you use social media? 
  • What kind of social media do you like, dislike? 
  • How much time do you spend on social media?
  • Any tips, resources, or strategies to share? 
  • Anything else to add?
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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

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Step 3

Coming Soon

Step 4

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