This question is for people who attend AA
 

I've been wanting to get back to aa meetings. Yes I am sober. My job requires me to get up very early in the morning. I try to go to bed at a decent time but it still takes me a while to fall asleep.But it still helps just to lay there. All the good meetings in my area start at 7:30, I know if i go i will be all wound up after the meeting and not be able to sleep. Then the next day i will be exhausted which is not good for me mentally. I just want to know if there are any early risers out there who make it to the later meetings. I don't know maybe i'm just making excuses. I know i can go on the weekends but i'm in the habit of not going. Maybe i'm just making excuses. Thanks!

Get a where to find (meeting book for your area)

There are early morning meetings 6 am early if that helps there may be earlier mtns than that but don't hold me to it but definatly 6am meetings in the uk

Every person is different you know? I'm up at 445 every morning and attend 8 PM meetings. But I get right to sleep when I get home. Maybe find a nooner?

How early do you have to get to work? There are 6am meetings around.

6:00AM & 6:15AM meetings around my area as well. I understand the feeling of being awake after a meeting. For me, it's a definite buzz ( in the best possible way). It'll work out for you.
:ring. Bobbi

Lots of 5 o'clock meetings around, Noon meetings, but yes most meetings are 7:30 or 8, used to always be 8:30, but times change, just like now we got step 11 meetings. The key to sobriety is working the 12 steps, the key is not attending meetings all the time. If you have weekends off, just do a meeting or 2 on the weekend, heck you could even just talk to your sponsor or AA friends after work, just hang out, shoot some pool, have some pizza.

I have always been an early riser. Always had jobs requiring at least 50 hours per week.

When I was drinking I would spend at least 3 hours a night drinking during the work week. That was 15 hours in the average work week.

Now I attend a minimum of 3 meetings and 1 fellowship during the work week. That adds up to 6 hours at the maximum.

I easily have an extra hour or more a night to rest now that I am sober.

I wake up around 7:30 AM during the work week and always attend evening meetings (anywhere between 6 - 8 PM starting times). It's no big deal most of the time but sometimes I just want to sit at home and do nothing because I'm tired from work. To me it's no different then if I was part of a book club or something like that and we met in the evenings.

Even on the weekends I still go to evening meetings as well. In fact, I tend to go to meetings more during the weekends (have more energy and time) but also need at least 1 or 2 during the week.

I am up at 4:45 AM during the working week.
I go to meetings at 8:00 PM Monday and/or Wednesday.
I rarely miss my 8:30 Friday meeting because I do service.
Most days, I take a nap when I get home from work; puts a fresh start on any evening.
I sometimes go to daytime meetings if I'm not too busy on the weekends.

(Maybe?) you are making excuses.

Is there another impediment that you're not telling us or not realising for yourself?

Sometimes I don't feel like going to a meeting.
"Too tired." is my excuse too.
And yet, I am always grateful when I do.

"Just do it." works for me.

when I got into AA I was up at 5 am,worked 9 hour days doing rough framing, and still went to meetings in the evening. I wouldnt get to sleep until 11 or midnight ish.
getting sober was the most important thing in my life and I was willing to go to any lengths to get it. no excuses. even if I had to run on 3 hours of sleep, I was going to do it.

IMO, it is an excuse if I were to say im in the habit of not going on weekends.
excuses led me to drinking.

Tons of sympathy here. I'm an early riser (4-5 a.m.). I don't function well at all after 8 in the evening, and even if I did, I have kids and can't leave them. I make 3-6 meetings a week by cramming them in at noon or on weekends. In emergencies (kid sick at home) I attend an online or telephone meeting. I went to any lengths to drink, I'll go to any lengths to stay sober!

Do you work on the weekend? If not, then you could go to night meetings Friday and Saturday. You could also go to a meeting during the day on Sunday. So that's 2-3 meetings you could go to without messing up your sleep schedule.

I wake up at 5:30 am Mon-Fri for work, I go to AA meetings during the week which are usually from 8 - 9 or 7:30 - 9 and it is ok for me, I still get enough sleep, if I'm really tired I don't go and I go to bed early instead.

We made time for our drinking, we didnt pay bills in order to have money to spend on booze. I was willing to go to any length to get sober! What are you willing to do?

Well, you said it twice, and I tend to agree. Instead of excuses to not go, come up with a couple reasons to go....like finding out how to get sober and stay sober.:herewego

PS...People die from alcohol every day but I've never known anyone to die from too little sleep.

This tells me there are earlier meetings you just do not want to attend those?

What defines a good meeting?

How willing are you to remain sober?

I always asked myself this question when I was to lazy to go to a meeting.

Was I willing to take the time to drink, go to the bar or the liquor store? Was I ever to tired for that?

The answer is almost always no. I was never to busy, to tired or thought of how much sleep I might lose when I was drinking.

I didn't drink just now and then so my recovery can't be now and then.

It all comes down to you get what you put into it. Do you want to remain sober only when it is convenient? or are you willing to do whatever it takes?