I'll have been clean for 6 months as of December 23 of this year. I attend NA and AA meetings 2-3x per week, and one LifeRing meeting per week. I'm 27 years old and honestly, I find it difficult to connect with many of the members at the most convenient AA meetings I can get to. My sponsor gives me a hard time about not going to a meeting every day, but quite frankly, I have found better uses of my time. Lately I find myself going to meetings just for the sake of going to a meeting and not getting grief from my sponsor. I stare at the clock the entire time, itching to get out of there. I don't know if I need to mix up the meetings that I go to or what, but I feel like I'm getting stale again in my recovery and can't afford to.
I am doing step work and enjoying it. I think for me personally I work better one on one versus in a large group. I have a very difficult time connecting with people outside of the meeting...part of this I think has to do with the age discrepancy (I'm 27, whereas the average age at the meetings I go to is 50+). That being said, I found a young person's meeting that I go to weekly and greatly enjoy.
I think it's important to realize that everyone is different. What works well for one person might not for another. I get a lot more out of working one on one with my sponsor vs. sitting in a large group listening to one person talk at a time. That's not to say that I don't get anything out of meetings, but I personally cannot see myself going to a meeting everyday. At some point, I think the point of getting sober is to go out and live your life happily, not sit in meetings all day. For some people, sitting in meetings all day is their life - and that's fine by me....however it frustrates me when my sponsor tries to push this lifestyle on me.
That being said, sobriety is great. It's great being able to constantly set new goals, rebuild relationships, and be ridiculously healthy again. I was fortunate enough to place 5th in a local strongman competition a few weeks ago (without the assistance of large amounts of amphetamines this time
). I am in the best shape of my life physically, mentally, and emotionally. I practice yoga daily, workout hard at my local Crossfit gym 5-6 days per week, meditate, and pray daily. I don't buy into a lot of the dogma of the 12-steps programs yet, but I continue to go to meetings and "act as if". LifeRing provides a WONDERFUL alternative to 12-step programs, and I get much more out of those meetings.
That's all for now, thanks for listening.