100

Im very worried about my aa meeting being closed down and i cant gobback to living like i did for over a year. Currently im vaccinated but im not taking any other precation . I been reading how vaccines might not protect agasist sever cases as well a perviolsy thought. I need meeting and online ones are wouthlees. I get more out of the pre meeting and after meeting fellowship as well as activities the group does. Evrey one i know has abadond all precations. I live in Michigan and its not nealy as bad as the southern states. The hospitals arent being overrun yet. I have to go to meetings or i wll drink its a sure a night turns to day. I actually mught be able to get a new job from a aa member. I cant go back to being by my self. Covid is dangerous but my alcoholism is fatal for sure eventually. If my alonao club were foreced to close again it would probally be its end. I also cant go back to being a hermit and ill be damed if will go back to social distancing. I just cant take it anymore.
David

ScottFromWI

Its a very trying time for everyone David. You made it through the last time your meetings were closed and you could do so again. Whether it be online or not, you can find a way to make it happen. I work for a hospital network and while they are preparing for the worst again, they did make it through a really bad fall winter, and I trust that they will do so again. We are far better prepared this time around and while certainly not perfect, the vaccines are very effective and helpful. You have a large network of people who can help here on SR, and I bet that even if for some reason your Alano club closed, you would be able to find a way to stay connected to the people in a safer/smaller environment somehow.

Eddiebuckle

Meet outdoors - that's how I made it through 2020. Is there an outdoor shelter at a local park or church that might be available? Where there's a will there's a way.

100

No myconcern is i wasn't sober during the pandemic at least not most of it and i wasn't doing recovery at all. Ive never been able to maintain soberity without aa. I do appreciate the community here i just know i need the face to face. Anyway it really is just hypothetical because the meetings are open and thier is no indication they will close. Its just im always waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak. Its also because im worried about how bad things might get with everything. Anyway thanks for the support and advice I do appreciate it.
David

novips

Lots to unpack there, but what I want to focus on is your belief that you can't get what you need from online meetings. I can certainly understand it when someone says in-person meetings are better. That's my view. I'd even go so far as to say that if it was reasonably possible for me to get to live meetings and I just chose to stay home and attend meetings online then I'd be in danger of cutting off my access to the Power that keeps me sober because I'd have stopped being willing to go to any length. But the flip side of that is being willing to go to any length to get what I need out of online meetings if it's not reasonably possible to get to in-person meetings. Some things to consider if that happens:

• If you struggle with staying focused during online meetings, consider starting a meeting journal -- committing to writing down at least one thing that was said during each meeting that helped you.
• If you miss the before and after of live meetings, consider picking up your phone game. Call someone off your sober rolodex before the meeting to see how they're doing, and call someone after the meeting to share what you got out of the meeting. (If you don't have a sober rolodex, get one.)
• There are thousands of online meetings. Are you really so terminally unique that you can't find ANY that can work for you in a pinch?

Anyway, these are just some thoughts / suggestions. As always, take what you need and leave the rest.

Obladi

What you were able to do (or not do) in the past is not necessarily any indication of what you will or can do in the future. I think looking to past (negative) experiences is one of the ways we alcoholics really do ourselves a disservice. It's alcoholic thinking, really, and it goes away with practice. At least that's my experience - saying self-affirming things really did help. Easy things like, "I never drink now," and "I am healing," or even, "It's a darn good thing I don't drink anymore (otherwise xyz would've turned into a dung heap." Maybe think about replacing your fearful thoughts with one of those positive ones - when you think, "I'm so scared I'm going to drink if ...," catch yourself and say (out loud, even), "There's nothing to fear here - cuz I don't drink anymore!"

To novips point, there are many good reasons for getting other AAs numbers - or friending them on facebook or whatehaveyou. One of those reasons is that you have a group of people you can contact at any time to say, "I need a meeting - come on over to my place at 6pm tonight (or meet me in the picnic shelter or whatever). I did that once when leaving detox - my home group meeting was cancelled, so I put a message out there that I'd host the meeting at my house. Enough people showed up to fill my living room, and some of those weren't even on my contact list. I recommend it. Words can't describe how special that meeting was - and all I had to do was invite people to come. Magic.

O

Dee74

Hi David
yeah it’s a scary world right now but honestly lockdowns are something we have no individual say in.

Its really playing into our inner addicts hands to worry about something we have no control over - an unsolvable problem would often lead to thoughts of drinking for me.

We have to make hay while the sun shines as they say.

Use the heck out of face to face meetings, grab contact numbers, be of service. If you’re still doing the steps, continuing doing them til step 12.

Don’t put conditions in your recovery. If you think you’re going to drink if lockdown happens again you’re already shaking hands with your addiction, y’know?

I don’t ‘do’ AA but I have a long list of things I do to stay sober - no matter what.
If one of my supports isn’t thee fur sone reason I make sure I have others.

Recovery for me is a full time lifelong 24/7 commitment.
Make it so for yourself as well,

Very few of us like lockdowns. Fewer still prefer them.

Lockdown adds an extra layer of pressure, but I can and will stay sober if it happens again. So can you.

D

least

The principle of AA is not that meetings keep you sober, but that working the steps does. So not going to meetings is not fatal to your sobriety, but not working/living the steps can be.

Grymt

It may also help to change ones relationship to this thing called worry. Instead of thinking and saying 'I am worried' :

say : 'a feeling called worry has appeared inside me' and at the same time focus on something real that is happening right now, for example 'my foot is on the ground'.

It takes some practice but in time worry and remorse is let go of.

Also, avoid making more remorse by doing generous, harmless, good things. In time worry is less and goes away quicker.

AAPJ

That's interesting. For me I am worried that the AA zoom meetings I like will shut down as COVID eventually goes away and the old FTF meetings re-start. I do like the FTF meetings but the zoom meetings allow for more frequent attendance and no travel time. Also with zoom meetings I am not looking at the back of someone's head when they are sharing or straining to hear a share from across the room.

ScottFromWI

I am willing to be that the virtual tools we have utilized will continue to be used in all areas of life moving forward for many of the reasons you suggest. I used to work in the Education field and now I work in Health Care, and everwhere you turn Zoom and tools like it are being used. We can reach out to people to educate them and provide virtual healthcare that are placebound for many reasons other than COVID for example.

Gottalife

I was sharing this the other day. "frequent contact with newcomers and each other is the bright spot of our lives" AA has given me a sense of purpose beyond merely trying to survive each day. My primary purpose is to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers, and I need to be doing that to maintain the bright spot. I don't want to lose that bright spot. I am not a great fan of technology, To me it seems to lack the real Power that is to be found in close contact with others of like mind, the spiritual energy. Isolation is not good for us, solitary confinement is a form of torture. How bad it is is born out by the suicide and relapse stats during extended lock downs. My thinking is that I can take lessons from some of the more repressive countries in the world where AA is unable to operate openly, yet it still operates discreetly, saving lives along the way. Our government does not seem too keen on anyone believing in a power greater than the state. Our current lock down rules allow gatherings of up to 50 indoors. For secular gatherings no masks are required and social distance is one meter. For church services its two meters and masks compulsory. Not sure how the bug tells the difference?

In my belief direct personal contact, one alcoholic with another, is vital to permanent recovery. In the past society has always been sympathetic to our cause, but these days its not always possible and that has had dire consequences among alcoholics who might otherwise have recovered.

RecklessEric

We had three lockdowns here in Ireland.
Long ones too.
When it became apparent that the second one was about to be introduced, lots of people I know, not just addicts, believed they wouldn't make it through another one. Mostly for mental health reasons. But they did. Every single one of them utilised something that they could tap into. Whether that was meeting for socially distanced walks in parks or quizzes over zoom with friends/family.
Most of them struggled at some point, but they made it through and interestingly, by the time the third lockdown rolled around, everyone had already things in place that they would use.

100

I'm no longer afraid of that I've moved on. As thier is very little Chance of that happening If thier is stadiums full of people at sporting events. People aren't even wearing mask anymore any place. So that probably won't happen. Everyone I know at the meetings I go to is vaccinated so that makes feel reasonable safe. I mean untreated alcoholism is a fatal disease so I'm still safer going to meetings while vaccinated than not going to meetings. Overall I'm doing good. I' might have had covid because I was sick with aches and pains for 2 weeks and still feel rundown . I went to doctor and they didn't suggest covid as possibility because I didn't have a fever at the time,although I did have one earlier. I isolated until I was 5 days without a fever which is what the official advice is 3 days with no fever and fine to go out in public.
David