View Single Post
Old 07-26-2022, 05:19 AM
  # 19 (permalink)  
novips
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
Posts: 544
When you say "back to more meetings", I assume you are using A.A. If that's correct, then relapsing after 90 days warrants an inventory of your program. I spent many years trying to "get it" in A.A., and when I look back now it's clear to me that every time I relapsed there was some obvious part of the program that I was defiantly refusing to surrender to. Here are some questions/considerations that may help:

1. Meetings: How many meetings were you attending? I was told 90-in-90 for the beginning and now -- almost 20 years later -- I still find that dipping below 4 per week is problematic (I chuckle when folks who see nothing wrong with an hour at the gym every evening balk at this suggestion). Also, did you have an official home group and service position? Specifically, the service commitment should be something others are counting on you for, such that you'd need to call someone to cover for you if you can't make it.

2. Steps: Do you have a sponsor and are you working the steps as outlined in the Big Book? By day 90, I would expect my sponsees to have at least begun writing their 4th Step. In addition, I was instructed to call my sponsor every day for the first 90 days. Prayer was also wrapped into my stepwork from day 1, with an expectation that I would get on my knees every morning to ask God to keep me sober, and get on my knees every evening to thank Him for doing so. Importantly, these actions do not require you to believe in God -- and "God"/"Him" can be replaced with "Higher Power", "Higher Consciousness", etc.

3. Service: In the beginning, a formal service commitment suffices. But also stay open to opportunities to carry the message to those with less time than you.
novips is offline