When I got sober there was pretty much only one way to do it. With AA. I had no choice but to jump in completely. Had the internet been around back then and I'd been given a variety of things to choose from, my feeling is that I'd have floundered for a pretty long time trying to find what fit me best. I'm grateful that I had no choice, and that I was depressed, terrified and panic riddled enough to embrace it completely. I didn't want to, I wasn't comfortable in AA, it cut completely across the grain of my being... but as it turns out, I needed something to do just that.
My meeting attendance was pretty much every day for the first 2 years, then I slacked off a bit yet stayed connected. I also stayed committed to some sort of service or another. At about 5 years I drifted away... was making about a meeting a month. Things were going great in my life, and AA wasn't necessary. I had a good foundation in the steps, I was as they say happy, joyous, and free. Until the sheeeit hit the fan one day. Without going into lots of detail, I got dangerously close to picking up a drink, yet thanks to the friends I had in the program got myself involved in AA again. Never went back to a meeting every day, but managed 2-3 a week.
Fast forward... thanks to the 12 steps and AA my life began now to really take off in the direction of my dreams. I was living the fantasies I had as a teen, I was busy beyond busy, practicing a spiritual program (got involved with A Course in Miracles), and at around 20 years sober alcohol was not even a remote thought any more. AA eased it's way out of my life once more... and then one day, yep, the sheeitt hit again, in a different way. A way that shattered the image I had of who and what I was, and I found myself at ground zero once again. My foundation in AA and the 12 steps are what I believed saved me from picking up a drink, but it wasn't until I returned to AA that the pieces really started to fall into place again. And it took a while. And I can't tell you why that is, but it is.
I now go to about 2 meetings a week, and have a commitment where I bring a meeting to a rehab every other week. For the first time in a while I've been feeling consistently content and happy with my life. The time I spend connecting with people in AA is time I'd probably otherwise spend watching TV, playing a video game, or doing some other pointless thing. I get so much more out of AA. It comes down to 4-6 hrs time out of my week. And it's time I didn't always, but now enjoy. I have no desire to ever cut it completely out of my life again.
Feeling certain I will never drink again is something I've felt for close to 3 decades now. I never expected my thinking to go to the places it has during those dacades. I can't predict what I'll be feeling 5 or 10 years from now, but I can take my sober experiences and learn from them. I enjoy life much much more when I'm connected with AA and I'm happy and grateful to be a part of it.