Originally Posted by
Aaron237 
AA helps a lot, and I'm grateful for its existence. However, I've found that I still have a lot of free time, which leads to continued ruminations and depressive thoughts.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation subsequent to getting off of alcohol?
I guess we all have to one degree or another. I was out of a job when I sobered up at 22. As you say, an AA meeting could take care of 1 or two hours each day, but that left 22 hours, quite a lot of which I was alone.
I found that the steps have taken care of the other 22 hours as far as drinking goes, by connecting me with a power greater than myself which provides a 24/7 defence against the fatal first drink. And they seem to have elad me into all kinds of interesting things in my life.
The meetings helped a lot at the start, though life was pretty topsy turvy, but the steps set me in a completely new direction where I rejoined the human race, and really feel a part of AA too.