eddie73

I am tired of AA meetings. I hear the same stuff over and over at them. I am not learning anything there anymore. It is turning into a case of looking around the room and thinking to myself "here we go again".

Is is t wise to take a break from meetings? I am in that place right now. I defo dont want to drink again but I am feeling lost after meetings.

xchadex123112

Tell me something Eddie...have you chosen a "home group" and are you involved in service work? I find that it's often not what I get out of an AA meeting, but what I contribute to it that matters. Making the coffee, setting up the room, chairing, speaking, or just raising my hand and sharing my own experience, strength and hope can make all the difference for me, especially if I've helped someone else or inspired someone with my message. Try getting involved more in the program, and utilize your sponsor...that's what he's there for. And if you don't have a sponsor yet, for heaven's sake, get one ASAP.

ski7days

I hear you I went throught the same feelings.. Im only like 8 days so my opinion may not be valid but I had to "shop" for a good meeting. Im lucky to live in a large city where there are 20 or 30 dif meetings to choose..FOR ME..my locoal one was alot of older timers with decades of clean time..and that helped but I recently found a HARDCORE meeting where almost everyone talks about their drug use and sexual addictions as well.. people literally get up and leave during the meeting and even talk on their cell phones, I have been to meetings in the mountains and in Palm Beach but I finally found one that seems to work. THAT SAID I am still looking around for different energy and points of view..I hope that helps or whatever. GOOD LUCK

Zebra1275

I would recommend that you try different meetings. I like to go to meetings that focus on solutions and not just drinking stories. I also like to mix in some BB and step meetings. Over time I've learned which meetings I don't want to miss and which meetings I want to avoid.

Gorpus

definitely try many different meetings! someone told me at my first meeting to go to a meeting 6 times before you decide whether you like it or not... i think 6 is a little extreme.. but maybe atleast 3? i have certain ones that i like way more than others...
good luck!

eaglette

A lot of it is redundant at first, but it is a worthwhile reminder. I do skip meetings sometimes, but I find that when I do, the cravings come back pretty powerfully and I tend to forget why I have committed to sobriety. All meetings are not the same, so if you're in the mood for a new flavor, try a different group. There is one NA meeting I usually go to. It is small, everyone hugs each other and lingers, and I feel comfortable sharing there. I just went to one last night at a rehab where there were at least 70 people. Very few people shared, but the ones who did were passionate and started yelling enthusiastically and whatnot because the main purpose of the group was to help the people in treatment there. I liked their zest and will probably go there to listen and have my entthusiasm revived and to the other place to share. You can tailor it however you want to to suit your needs in recovery.

Taking5

Find a meeting that carries the message, not a constant drunkalogue meeting. This is why I like BB studies.

keithj

There are groups, Eddie, where the members are serious about recovery, the Steps, and growing a deepening relationship with some greater power. In those groups, you will find people having an ongoing, current experience with recovery. They are living it every day.

Find a sponsor who understands that meetings are not about the same people telling the same stories. Find a sponsor who can take you through the Steps that you can have your own experience.

Pete55

I got sick of the same-ol-same-ol-all-stars meetings to.
Could have taken bets before come meetings started on who was going to get called to share!

But I can't go back to drinking, just can't do that. And I surelly would not go back to drinking over meetings that bore the heck out of me.

But most of the replies are right. There is more to AA than just going to a meeting for the sake of going to a meeting.
There is service work, 24 hour fones, etc...not sure how that works anywhere else, but there are fones.

Big Book and Steps workshops.
And living. AA is a way of life and sure has given me a life to look forward to.
Sure, there are some meetings I do not go to since the fog has cleared.

Most importantly, a home group. I know I can always go to my home group and touch base. The longest stretch I been without a meeting is 1 week, and I sure looked forward to my home group.

But when I'm not at meetings during the day, there is good reason now. Usually domestic duties, house cleaning. Living sober is just wonderfull.

I got a "sobriety pet", happens to be a cat, now there are 2!
Had I had that choice again, it would have been a mexican fighting fish. The one I used to have jumped out of it's bowl while I was out one day.
It died, ofcourse.
But that fish, "knew me" ! or so I thought. Point is, there can be more to life than meetings, but remember the meetings is where we find the newcomer and that keeps the wheels of AA, AA....,

omegasupreme

I got lost in Open Discussion Khaos for a while myself. So, what's a guy to do???

I sought out some folks that wanted to do the work based upon our literature. Some places are harder than others, but you can find us if you look hard enough, lol. By me doing the work, and then turning around at my next earliest inconvenience and carrying the message of hope to another...no chance in the world for boredom or complacency or anything else like that.

Let me know if I can do anything else for you.

recoverywfaith

Have you tried a Big Book study AA meeting?

nandm

I have had periods in my sobriety where I have felt the exact same way. I hated hearing the same thing over and over from the same people. I could recite their drunkalog perfectly. It became more of a chore to go to meetings than the blessing meetings should be.

What I did was started trying other meetings. I found a home group and started service work. I started out secretarying the meeting and participating in the group conscious meetings. This helped out a lot. There are still times when I get bored but now I know what to do to help with that boredom which is check out other meetings and get into service work.

Today I go to a Big Book study meeting weekly even though I have over 10 years of sobriety. What I find is that these meetings are more focused on the how to do the program as it is spelled out in the Big Book, or how it was intended to be done. We focus on the first 164 pages. It is a Big Book discussion group where it is expected for people to share their experiences, questions, and thoughts on what we read that day. This helps keep the drunkalogs to a minimum and invites new ideas. We constantly have newcomers come in which is nice to see them grow and change as they start getting the program and find out how to apply the Big Book and Steps in their lives. I would strongly suggest this type of meeting if you are bored with the regular meetings.

I guess basically what I am saying is no different than those who posted before me just put in a slightly different way. Don't give up on AA just because of a few meetings.

BadCompany

A single meeting can get stale if it doesn't get fresh blood from time to tome. A friend and I went through this years back. We both bought motorcycles and began traveling far and wide as long as there was a meeting to go to, like we'd find a county fair 100 miles away and go to that if there was also a meeting there too. This filled up our free time and we brought fresh ideas and perspectives back to our home group.

Mark75

Listen with new ears, see with new eyes...

CarolD

There are 2 groups in my town....I go to my home group twice ....then the other meeting once........

What Step are you on Eddie?

newby1961

I think everyone goes through this but the scary part is the people who stay away from meetings sooner or later usually end up getting loaded. I know this from experience.

My sponsor told me the only bad mtg was the one I wasn't contributing to.

I like this think of AA mtg's like a pair of new shoes you have to search for the right fit.

I also wanted to mention that sometimes all that negative talk in my head about meetings and or the other members, is just my disease trying to separate me from you so I can go drink. Just something to beware of.

So try some different meetings and come back and let us know if it helped?

yeahgr8

Depends on whether you have done the steps and had your spiritual awakening...i can't say i don;t go to meetings but i would say i go to max 1 a week, 1 every 2 weeks them but try to go to 1 a week [cue guilt lol]...in the first year i went to 3 a week...so basically if you have done the work you can cut back to a number that you are comfortable with, if you haven't don't stop going for fear of drinking again which, in this case, would not be an irrational fear...freedom is there in AA for anyone, just do the work:-)

TenNinetySix

Right there with you. Don't know what your situation is but mine is such that there ARE no meetings to pick & choose from... there's only one game in town. The nearest other one is 34 miles away & it also is only one night a week & I work evening shifts a lot, so quite frankly, meetings have just not been pivotal to me staying sober. It breaks the accepted rules, but I have to do it the way I have to do it & that's just how it is. I sometimes found myself craving a drink like CRAZY after a meeting just because I was so tired of it being the same ol' thing every week... So I come on line, I read the BB, I read the 12X12, I have a circle of sober friends I hang with, talk to, & I have made my own support group. When there's a chance to catch a meeting I take it but I learned early on that in my situation if I relied on the local meeting to do the job I had a tougher time staying happy about being sober than if I just did my service work with my sponsee & simply didn't drink. You have to figure out what works for you~~ but if you live somewhere that you CAN explore other meetings & groups... go for it. And my favorites are the Big Book meetings. The group I manage to catch that does that is 34 miles away & I can only go every once in awhile, but we read one chapter a week out of the Book, taking turns reading around the table, then it goes back around the table & each person discusses what part of that chapter speaks most to them, and why. That is a fantastic meeting where you actually grow & learn. Listening to the same couple of people tell the same handful of stories makes me want to buy a fifth of vodka, honestly.

1undone

I go to 4 different meetings, none of them are the same and there are different people at each. Eventually I probably will only need one or two per week as I now have a sponsor but because I am so new I have to emerse myself in the sober culture and do whatever it takes to stay away from the "beast." I live in a very diverse area so it could be that is what makes my experience good every time. Like others have said, you may have to go a bit out of your way to find the group that works for you.

Most of the meetings I go to have a different theme/topic each time so I don't hear the same information. And like others have said going to step meetings or sober living meetings is cool because we do readings and then discuss. Hope things work out for you, I hate to see anyone have a bad experience with AA.

Antiderivative

Start looking for ways to add to the meeting, instead of expecting new found knowledge at every meeting.

If you go to the same meeting with the same faces, then most of them will start to get old. To expect anything else, would not be healthy.