I got sober in 1983. You could hit at least a half-dozen church basements if you threw a rock in any direction in my neighborhood. AA was pretty much it back then, and it worked well for me.
My first meeting was on April 7th of that year. I talked to a woman I knew in AA beforehand, and she recommended I start with a beginners' meeting.
The person facilitating the meeting asked for new people to raise their hands and say how many days or weeks they were sober. Eight days, four, seven, ten...the woman sitting next to me raised her hand, identified herself, and said "Today is eighteen days." I thought to myself that she was either lying or taking something that made it either dangerous or impossible for her to drink. Or maybe just confused.
I couldn't take in what to me was an enormous amount of time without a drink.
Every moment we remain sober we live a better life.