Meeting Makers Make it..
High on Life
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Been to Hell and Back
Posts: 1,157
It might appear that they make it, but it's more than just going to meetings. I know plenty of people that go to meetings and still drink in fact I was one of them. I used to drink a half pint on the way to a meeting and drink one on the way home from the meeting. Meeting makers, just make lots of meetings, that's the only thing that's guranteed.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 2,126
Folks in meetings hear over and over again from folks who've recently returned that they 'stopped going to meetings and went back out, and now they're back trying yet again.'
From this, the folks in the meetings assume that since they stayed 'in the meetings' and they're still sober, and those who stopped attending meetings got drunk that.............meeting makers make it (stay sober) and those who don't make meetings don't make it (they drink again).
The problem with this is................it's just illogical. ...and they've forgotten one other group--those who stopped going to meetings and are still sober. Just because they don't see this group, doesn't mean they don't exist; they just don't exist where the folks in meetings can see them----in meetings. It's kinda like the queery...: if a tree falls does it make a sound, or if it's overcast/dark and stormy is the sun out.
(o:
NoelleR
From this, the folks in the meetings assume that since they stayed 'in the meetings' and they're still sober, and those who stopped attending meetings got drunk that.............meeting makers make it (stay sober) and those who don't make meetings don't make it (they drink again).
The problem with this is................it's just illogical. ...and they've forgotten one other group--those who stopped going to meetings and are still sober. Just because they don't see this group, doesn't mean they don't exist; they just don't exist where the folks in meetings can see them----in meetings. It's kinda like the queery...: if a tree falls does it make a sound, or if it's overcast/dark and stormy is the sun out.
(o:
NoelleR
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Colusa,California
Posts: 8
I think it is a cliche for the newcomer. I used tyo think all the cliche's were corny. I even hated some of them and thought the people who used them were posers. Quoting from the book. I thought they were all dorks to be honest.
I dont know why I have changed my opinion of them or the cliches. But I have. I think its just giving us all hope. I know I probably wouldnt be clean and sober wityhout my meetings and being of service. Thats just me. I have grown to love the meetings and the cliches. They dont hurt.
Also, I think working a program is the way to true recovery. I am working my steps and I'll tell you what. I have learned a lot about learning to live with out alcohol and drugs. I lived 32 years on them and quite frankly I didnt know how to live without them.
The cliches are dorky but they are just to give us all hope. Take what you need and leave the rest.
There is another one. OH NO! am I actually saying a cliche myself. LMAO
I dont know why I have changed my opinion of them or the cliches. But I have. I think its just giving us all hope. I know I probably wouldnt be clean and sober wityhout my meetings and being of service. Thats just me. I have grown to love the meetings and the cliches. They dont hurt.
Also, I think working a program is the way to true recovery. I am working my steps and I'll tell you what. I have learned a lot about learning to live with out alcohol and drugs. I lived 32 years on them and quite frankly I didnt know how to live without them.
The cliches are dorky but they are just to give us all hope. Take what you need and leave the rest.
There is another one. OH NO! am I actually saying a cliche myself. LMAO
Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: far far from home
Posts: 373
I don't use the phrase simply because it predicts someone else's experience and that is none of my business.
I will say that until I made a lot of meetings I did not make it. It was by making meetings that I understood the nature of the disease, was introduced to the literature and met my sponsor. So I had to make meetings as a first step.
So the quote is pretty much true for my experience. However, I will caveat that by saying I am in a country now with not a lot of meetings, and I am still making it, my relationship with my HP and my Big Book are seeing to that as well as SR, I need the transmission line with another drunk and a meeting is not always necessary.
I will say that until I made a lot of meetings I did not make it. It was by making meetings that I understood the nature of the disease, was introduced to the literature and met my sponsor. So I had to make meetings as a first step.
So the quote is pretty much true for my experience. However, I will caveat that by saying I am in a country now with not a lot of meetings, and I am still making it, my relationship with my HP and my Big Book are seeing to that as well as SR, I need the transmission line with another drunk and a meeting is not always necessary.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Merritt Island, Fl
Posts: 1,164
We drink because we want to, not because we stop going to meetings. The last place I want to be is a meeting when I am drinking. Meetings keep me sober for one hour, AA and God keeps me sober the other 23. Long before the drink happens there is usually a loss of spirituality, and an attempt to "run the show" on our own again. Just sayin...
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Living in Today!
Posts: 3,945
Originally Posted by stugotz 
We drink because we want to, not because we stop going to meetings. The last place I want to be is a meeting when I am drinking. Meetings keep me sober for one hour, AA and God keeps me sober the other 23. Long before the drink happens there is usually a loss of spirituality, and an attempt to "run the show" on our own again. Just sayin...
Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Merritt Island, Fl
Posts: 1,164
Meetings prepare us for a better way of life. Meetings teach us how to adopt a new set of beliefs and morals. But meetings alone do not keep us sober. It is the fellowship and God that does. I see plenty of active drunks at meetings. I was only sharing my ESH that to rely on meetings as a "cure all" is a bit dangerous.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Living in Today!
Posts: 3,945
Originally Posted by stugotz
Meetings prepare us for a better way of life. Meetings teach us how to adopt a new set of beliefs and morals. But meetings alone do not keep us sober. It is the fellowship and God that does. I see plenty of active drunks at meetings. I was only sharing my ESH that to rely on meetings as a "cure all" is a bit dangerous.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: uk
Posts: 2,548
I dont like silly catch phrases.......i sucked them all up thinking if i spout them enough ill be beamed up into some sobriety utopia....it didnt happen.
To be fair if i hadnt have gone to a AA fellowship meeting...i never would have heard what the old man had to say......and i truly believe id be dead if i hadnt.
"meeting makers make it"... kinda implies ...plenty of meeting and your gonna light -up
and in my experience here in the uk....it is a deadly misconception.
Geeeez im a lazy drunk if all i had to do was meetings id be a happy guy....
no 12 step call in the middle of the night.......no having to make amends to my x wife.......no honest look at myself........etc.
this is the alcoholism board and im my experience of alcoholism......all bets where off, until i opened the book and got my hands real dirty...
funny thing i was thinking about.......my wife never threatened to leave much when i was drinking.
but she did lots of times when i was doing meetings and nothing else ...tearing my head off trying to stay sober.
To be fair if i hadnt have gone to a AA fellowship meeting...i never would have heard what the old man had to say......and i truly believe id be dead if i hadnt.
"meeting makers make it"... kinda implies ...plenty of meeting and your gonna light -up
and in my experience here in the uk....it is a deadly misconception.
Geeeez im a lazy drunk if all i had to do was meetings id be a happy guy....
no 12 step call in the middle of the night.......no having to make amends to my x wife.......no honest look at myself........etc.
this is the alcoholism board and im my experience of alcoholism......all bets where off, until i opened the book and got my hands real dirty...
funny thing i was thinking about.......my wife never threatened to leave much when i was drinking.
but she did lots of times when i was doing meetings and nothing else ...tearing my head off trying to stay sober.
Adventures In SpaceTime
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 5,827
Meetings allow persons of different circumstances to fellowship as equals for the express purpose of recovering from alcoholism. Its the one place where an alcoholic can go and expect to be warmly accepted as an alcoholic, regardless of past circumstances. Meetings are a haven in times of dire troubles where one can find a helpful hand and a good word. Meetings are a scheduled gathering for alcoholics to give back to their own without fanfare, pomp, and ceremony. Meetings are the place for the newcomer to be welcomed and the old timers to be helpful.
Sometimes meetings are the difference between getting drunk again or staying sober another 24 hrs. Sometimes meetings are the only social outing some alcoholics have at the moment. Sometimes meetings saves lives not because the alcoholic can't live without them, but because some alcoholics have set up their program to absolutely include meetings as an essential part of the program of recovery. It's a free world.
Like I've said in other threads, I can take or leave meetings, my recovery is not dependant on meetings, but if I was needing meetings, that would be my right to do so, and all the rhetoric against it would be useless and harmful not only to me but also to those who take my inventory or presume to know my business better than I do myself. It's nobody's business how many meetings anyone goes or does not go to, IMO. What is important is whatever the alcoholic is doing is it helpful or not to that persons sobriety.
There are no second-class alcoholics in alcoholism. We're all brothers and sisters of the same family even when we drink or don't drink. Our illness of alcoholism is no respector of personal differences between alcoholics-- only sobriety is the key difference of having a good life to live or of dying drunk -- and none of us can do better than be simply spiritually sober. None of us can do more. We have all been drunk as alcoholics and in those times we have found common purpose to become sober. It is a shame that sometimes we think that sobriety is a thing earned by doing this or that or the other thing. Sobriety is a gift and those that have sobriety know it to be true: we get far more back from sobriety than we ever gave to it (or ever will give to it.) It's a gift pure and simple.
I don't care if meeting makers make it or not. Its all rhetoric. I do care that all alcoholics have a chance to get sober, stay sober, live sober, help others do the same wherever and whenever and however. Whatever works works. Getting sober for good and all is not rocket science.
Robby
Sometimes meetings are the difference between getting drunk again or staying sober another 24 hrs. Sometimes meetings are the only social outing some alcoholics have at the moment. Sometimes meetings saves lives not because the alcoholic can't live without them, but because some alcoholics have set up their program to absolutely include meetings as an essential part of the program of recovery. It's a free world.
Like I've said in other threads, I can take or leave meetings, my recovery is not dependant on meetings, but if I was needing meetings, that would be my right to do so, and all the rhetoric against it would be useless and harmful not only to me but also to those who take my inventory or presume to know my business better than I do myself. It's nobody's business how many meetings anyone goes or does not go to, IMO. What is important is whatever the alcoholic is doing is it helpful or not to that persons sobriety.
There are no second-class alcoholics in alcoholism. We're all brothers and sisters of the same family even when we drink or don't drink. Our illness of alcoholism is no respector of personal differences between alcoholics-- only sobriety is the key difference of having a good life to live or of dying drunk -- and none of us can do better than be simply spiritually sober. None of us can do more. We have all been drunk as alcoholics and in those times we have found common purpose to become sober. It is a shame that sometimes we think that sobriety is a thing earned by doing this or that or the other thing. Sobriety is a gift and those that have sobriety know it to be true: we get far more back from sobriety than we ever gave to it (or ever will give to it.) It's a gift pure and simple.
I don't care if meeting makers make it or not. Its all rhetoric. I do care that all alcoholics have a chance to get sober, stay sober, live sober, help others do the same wherever and whenever and however. Whatever works works. Getting sober for good and all is not rocket science.
Robby
Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,947
Originally Posted by RobbyRobot
We're all brothers and sisters of the same family even when we drink or don't drink.
Adventures In SpaceTime
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 5,827
Originally Posted by Mark75
A good meeting should have an environment of unconditional love... just like a family... sadly, some families don't... as for meetings?
Unconditional love is the gift part of sobriety, so for me there is no should, its already a given.
Cheers!
Rob
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
Originally Posted by 24hrsAday
they are not a "cure all" working the program is Required for spiritual growth and a good life..
......or were you just stirring the pot again?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Living in Today!
Posts: 3,945
i just got back from my Home Group A.A. Meeting.. the topic came from Daily Reflections October 14th: A Program For Living.. it was a Great Meeting with much ESH shared.. i am glad i went!
Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 4,682
I think the phrase needs explanation to a newcomer...it gives the impession that if they just keep coming to meetings everything will be ok...it gives them carte blanche to substitute the bar for the rooms of AA...fact is if they don't work the steps and get their spiritual awkening (what that has to do with Jesus i don't know!) they won't recover from alcoholism even if they do 1000 meetings in a year...
Meetings are important though for various reasons...there is a great deal of experience in the rooms, as long as you have a good sponsor to filter the helpful from the not in the early stages then, for me, there is a lot to learn there:-)
Meetings are important though for various reasons...there is a great deal of experience in the rooms, as long as you have a good sponsor to filter the helpful from the not in the early stages then, for me, there is a lot to learn there:-)
Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 26,425
meeting makers make it and keep coming back..those things are to some extent true for me...in that i think those things have helped keep me alive and in a place where maybe i will hear the answer for me.
however meetings have not yet suceeded in keeping me sober...just in keeping where help may be available to keep me sober.
Working the steps...i've done so to the best of my ability..it hasn't worked yet, but ... i'm still hopeful that i just missed the trip and that they are still the answer
however meetings have not yet suceeded in keeping me sober...just in keeping where help may be available to keep me sober.
Working the steps...i've done so to the best of my ability..it hasn't worked yet, but ... i'm still hopeful that i just missed the trip and that they are still the answer
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Living in Today!
Posts: 3,945
Originally Posted by ananda
meeting makers make it and keep coming back..those things are to some extent true for me...in that i think those things have helped keep me alive and in a place where maybe i will hear the answer for me.
however meetings have not yet suceeded in keeping me sober...just in keeping where help may be available to keep me sober.
Working the steps...i've done so to the best of my ability..it hasn't worked yet, but ... i'm still hopeful that i just missed the trip and that they are still the answer
however meetings have not yet suceeded in keeping me sober...just in keeping where help may be available to keep me sober.
Working the steps...i've done so to the best of my ability..it hasn't worked yet, but ... i'm still hopeful that i just missed the trip and that they are still the answer
Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mgm, AL
Posts: 1,000
Two quick reasons *I* can attest to: They don't serve alcohol at AA meetings, and I'm likely to hear something that'll help me stay sober another 23 hours--until the next one. Of course, I was sick, tired, and dying. Your results may differ.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 157
As with anything, what works within (or outside) of AA can be different for everyone. Use what works for you, leave the rest. If AA meetings/book/friends/program work for you, keep doing it. If not, keep doing whatever it is you are doing.
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