losteverything

I just wonder something....this one AA meeting at the hospital meets every friday night....is once a week normal for AA groups to meet? i know that right now, i need to go to more meetings than that per week......but eventually, when i have some sober time behind me, is once a week going to be enough? The reason i ask is...one hour per week is something i could definately handle..one hour per week is something i can look forward to...

CarolD

Here was the deal for me...
I drank daily so I figured
I needed to do AA meetings daily.

I found a meeting that was at 7 a.m. so I went
before work.

There are often meetings a lunch hour too...
and at "happy hour" right afterwork hours.

Please call your local AA for meetings that
you can attend.

I now attend 3 a week because I enjoy them.
I have been sober a long time.

Take care

best

Each person is different. For some, 3 meetings a day is what they need. For others 3 meetings a month may be what gets them through.
The important thing to remember... get to a meeting before you need one and you won't need worry. When we get lax and start thinking we don't need meetings at all, we run a risk of starting up our old ways of thinking.

For now, I would say go to as many meetings as you can. Time and recovery will guide you to how ever many would be a good balance in the future.
One a week could be it. You will know when the time comes.

Kellye C

Our group has a minimum of 3 meetings a day every day. I was told to do 90 meetings in 90 days. I was also told to put forth as much energy in staying sober as I did in getting drunk. This means I went to a meeting even if the freezing cold or pouring rain or sweltering heat.

At 2.5 years sober I will make at least 5 meetings a week and sometimes more. It's not an obligation, it's an opportunity to reconnect with my home group, catch up on what's going on with them and be there when the newcomer walks in. It is very important for me to make meetings. I have already learned that if I get lazy about meetings then I start having attitude problems and thinking problems. Not good. Definitely not worth it!

Hugs,
Kellye

concolor1

"How long do I have to go to meetings?"

And the time-honored answer is "You have to go to meetings until you want to go to meetings."

Ditto for when you should go to meetings (When you want to and when you don't).

Okay, I do 2-3 meetings a month, max, and have for the last half of my sobriety (closer to 30 years than 20, but who's counting? ;-)

Once, at around five years, I went maybe six weeks without meetings when I was working out of town. So a big crisis hit (relationship stuff, natch), and I got my guts ripped up . . . I would've gotten ripped myself except I managed to find an alcoholism counselor and a meeting in a hurry as well as make a couple of long distance phone calls . . . I still came closer to slipping than I ever had (read that part in the Big Book where it talks about a "defense [that] that must come from a Power Greater than Ourselves. They're not lying about that one).

Since then, I don't get that far away from the program even if I'm not doing that many meetings. i don't smoke anymore, so the smoke in the clubhouses and the meetings where it's still permitted is a bit of a bother (but I promised I wouldn't be a Nazi about that one), but I still keep up AA contacts and do meetings as I'm comfortable. Finding this site has been extremely comforting for me as well . . .

For the first dozen years or so, though, I attended on the schedule described by others above, and I worked in service positions and kept my name on the local 12 Step list (I would advise against making 12-Step calls alone although I have done them in the past).

Bottom line is I'm still sober, and a whole lot of people who were less committed haven't fared as well . . . Some of them made it back, fortunately . . .

Some of them didn't . . .

findingout

You can't go to too many meetings but you can go to exactly one too few?

When I started I did two meetings a week but I had outpatient treatment for four hours three times a week. When my treatment reduced to once a week, I started doing three meetings a week. After treatment I stuck with three meetings a week until 18 months when I added a fourth meeting. I've pretty much done four meetings a week since then, I don't skip these meetings unless I am out of the area or I have a reason better than "I don't feel like going to a meeting.", and I am also secretary for two of these meetings. All four meetings are different from each other in location, in size, and in the people who attend them on a regular basis. I don't find them repetitive or boring or a chore.

Could I drop one or two or all of these meetings and still stay sober? Don't know, haven't tried. A.A. and N.A. are part of my life now.

But that's what works for me... part of the whole "One Day at a Time" thing is not worrying about how many meetings I'll be going to a year from now because it just doesn't matter. The goal is to stay sober today and putting artificial limits and expectations on what I may feel like in the future doesn't help to achieve that goal.

sobertooth

When I first started getting clean and sober I went to a lot of meetings then as time went on I found i didn't need to go as much, but I still put one day aside, sunday for church, I have to thank God everyday for giving me the strainght to get and stay clean and sober. So do as many meetings as possable but on sunday meet with your lord and give thanks.

mike_mass

I would go at least a few times a week. Try different meetings that cover various topics (i.e. steps, big book, open discussion). You'll learn more and meet different people.

CarolD

obertooth....Welcome to SR!

Tazman53

That statement right there says it all to me, I found at first that going to over 90 meetings in 90 days still left me with time above and beyond the time I spent getting beer and sitting in my garage by myself drinking beer.

I now attend 3-4 meetings a week and spend an evening doing step work with my sponsor, I have had the urge/need to drink lifted from me, if I started having some "stinking thinking" I would have this old goats butt in a meeting in a big hurry.

I know folks with more then 30 years that attend at least one meeting a day every day still, I know others with 5 years that only go once a week. Everyone is different so there is no cast in stone number of meetings to attend to stay sober, but you can never go to too many meetings, just to few.

The one thing I will assure you of is that if you devote as much time to AA as you did to drinking you will stay sober if you are working the program.

Astro

I can't add much here, but at almost two years sobriety I still make a meeting every day, and some days I make two or three. I've also got four service commitments at this time.

This is just what works for me, and you'll discover what you need for a good program of recovery. For now I'd recommend as many as possible. There's no such thing as too much good sobriety.

mike_mass

Service helped me a lot in early sobriety...you can: become a greeter, make coffee, manage the treasury, help with the chairs, sell raffle tickets, and a whole lot more. All these things make you more a part of the group and enhance your self-esteem.

collinsmi

Generally, a specific meeting will be held once a week.