kaizen66

Hi - even though I have been sober from drugs and alcohol for more than five years, I have found that recently I have started taking up drinking caffeine like I used to drink alcohol. I never even drank caffeine until recently, and I was slamming it all day long - definitely not like a "normal" caffeine drinker. Which, I must admit, is a little funny...

Also, I was sick and drank some Robutussin a few months back and I realized if you drink the whole bottle, you can get very high. So, in my warped mind I rationalized it because it wasn't traditional drug or alcohol, but there I was doing my old addictive patterns in new substances.

So - for the first time ever I decided to go to AA meetings. I plan on doing one a day for 30 days (try many different locations and see what fits best). Along the way, I plan to pick up a sponsor, begin to seriously work the steps, etc.

Today is my sixth day of meetings, and my question is this:

Since I'm very new to AA and meetings, and I live in Chicago, can others recommend meetings that they find particularly useful in Chicago? I know this is very subjective, but any guidance would be appreciated.

Obviously, I'm going to have to visit many meetings to find the best fits - and so far they all have been wonderful. At certain meetings the average demographic tends to shift, and I find it easier to relate to certain addicts than others.

There's literally thousands of meetings per week in Chicago, and any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

...and I will keep coming back (at least I did today - ha)

parentrecovers

hello, nice to meet you, karizen. i'm in your area, and you are right - there are hundreds of meetings..

i'm the mom of an alcoholic, so i've only been to open meetings. others might be along with more direct experience with different groups.

keep posting! k