Originally Posted by
mellieJan2010 
All of the meetings I have been to... everyone said how they went "back out" two or three times, or more, before it stuck.
Maybe you could find some meetings where people are working the program of AA. I think you'll find that those people are not continually relapsing. Look around. Evaluate things. The people that are going 'back out' are the same people that have not had a spiritual awakening as the result of the Steps. They may pay a little lip service to it, but in almost all cases, they have not taken the suggested actions.
There are certain requirements for successful consummation of the AA program. If you haven't met those requirements, you can have no expectation of successful recovery. It's not something that one day just magically 'sticks' by being around people who are not drinking. Self, searching, leveling of pride, confession of shortcomings (i.e. the 12 Steps) are the requirements for success.