Welcome back to SR Wibble!!!!
I haven't been to any meetings and i'm not sure i really like the idea. I really like the idea of online meetings and support. I can understand how important it is to share experiences but i'm not sure i'm ready to do that in public....but hey maybe thats why i keep falling off the wagon? ;-)
Wibble you will never know until you try a couple of meetings!!! LOL
I will tell you this, there are no rules in AA, you do not have to say a single word if you don't want to!
As a matter of fact the most important thing a newcomer can do is listen!!! I found out that if my lips were moving I was not learning anything!!!
Call up your local AA hotline, ask them where and when some newcomer meetings are, also ask them if you have to say anything at any meeting just to make sure I am not making this up!
Go to the meeting, grab a cup of coffee, find a chair, sit down and listen.
When you are listening listen for things you can relate to, do not listen for differences, everyone is different!
Listen for hope!!!!
In my early sobriety I found hope in someone picking up a one or 2 month chip, when someone picked up a twenty year chip I honestly found no hope because at that point in time I did not believe that an alcoholic like me could stay sober 2 months, a year seemed impossible....... 20 years I could not even begin to fathom!!! I will have 2 years in September, I still find it hard to beleive that I have been sober this long.
What I find the most amazing is today I could care less if I ever had another drink for the rest of my life even though I stay sober one day at a time, today I do not crave nor obsess about a drink.