I know this thread has been going for awhile and I am quite impressed with the visible change in attitude by Bella, it is great as we let go of some ideas and agree to at least give some consideration to others!
I was reflecting on how I have changed with regard to my thoughts and feelings about AA as an experience, an entity, and a tool. In the beginning it was my last hope and one I detested, I was simply too desperate to do anything else.
At this stage of sobriety it enriches my life with the lessons that I am privileged to learn from all with whom I come in contact. I don't think the meetings really keep me from drinking per se, that phase of recovery has become just a small animal lurking in the rear most recesses of my lizard brain. I have to always be en garde, but I really get much more than I give from almost any of the meetings I attend. There are the ones that are primarily populated by old timers and those seem to impart life lessons and camaraderie. The "raw" newcomer ones that remind me how it was, and what it could be like again, and the "somewhere in between” type of meetings that are like watching a maturing fruit tree bring forth fruit just the way it is supposed to.
AA is a PART of my life, not my life, but without it I wouldn't have everything else. Can we ever have enough positive influences in our life as we find our way through this maze?
I don't think so. I do know I have never walked out of a meeting and said to myself, “I have to quit doing this!” I used to do that all the time when I walked out of bars late at night.
Jon