AVRT: I'm old now, 84 actually, with 22 years plus of sobriety. Many of my former friends are either dead or largely inaccessible due to senility. I spend a lot of my time now with books and TV and also, as you see, logging on to SR. But I'm still lonely. Very lonely. (I've got a little dog and he helps a lot). Occasionally I go to a meeting just to seek companionship. I don't in any way feel that I have to go to a meeting to avoid drinking. Years have passed when I didn't go to a single meeting yet I had no urge to drink nor did I drink. So then I went back to a meeting or two but largely discontinued since it really didn't help with the loneliness very much. But I did for awhile go back to a couple of meetings I used to go to in my earlier days and it was so wonderful the way they greeted me. I just liked seeing them again and noted that many of them said they had been sober for 20 or more years. So we joked around and for awhile it helped me feel better.
So anyway, maybe some folks may feel that meeting other alcoholics is a threat to them or plays right into the hands of the Beast. I just don't feel that way. I don't go to a lot of meetings now but when I feel very lonely then i may show up at one or two. I don't take to doctrinaire stuff or being shoved around and I've done a lot of this on my own but there are still a few meetings which I like going to now and then just to renew old ties and say hello. Tell them that I'm O.K. They seem to like hearing that.
W.