Dan23

Hello everyone well I'm 4 days sober and attended my first meeting last night. I am planning to go every tuesday and saturday but I also suffer from depression and I don't like going out anywhere. Will 2 a week be enough? Thanks

Sapling

They usually recommend doing 90 meetings in 90 days. You can do 2 in one day and take off a day if you want. I did 2 a day for 90 days...I guess the question is....How bad do you want to get sober?

Caledonia1

It can be for some people but it's entirely up to yourself. I needed loads of meetings at the start and it was a godsend. Takes your mind of drinking when you have something else to focus on.
If you're not keen on going out well SR is just perfect. Post and read until your hearts content.
Well done on your 4 days that's a fantastic start. Keep up the good work.
Take care.

heath480

It is a personal choice Dan.If you live in an area with a lot of meetings,you could get to as many as possible and get a feel for which ones suit you best.Then you would get a bigger support network.

A lot of areas it is just not possible for people to do meetings every day.

I did the same 2 meetings a week for a long time in early Recovery.Nowadys I do far more because I love AA and the 12 steps.

Itchy

However many you need. Just do a cost benefit analysis. The costs are venturing outside on the one hand, and relapsing on the other. The benefit is sobriety if you overdo the meetings, and relapse if you isolate too much and don't keep going.

How many should you go to? As many as you need to reap the rewards and not the relapse. If you feel you need more then go. I isolated in alcoholism too. The going got easier the more I got going.

DisplacedGRITS

however many you feel you need. i'd go to just enough that i'm actually a little uncomfortable with it at first in the beginning. being uncomfortable means you're breaking out of your comfort zone which is the area that you don't want to be in anymore. it's that safe zone of alcohol and isolation. so to get out of there, go to one too many meetings. when that gets comfortable, that's a sign of progress. keep up those meetings for a few months. you'll know when you're ready to scale back. just never stop going.

personally, i tried to go 90 in 90 and made it about 2 months but those 2 months were what i needed to break my old habits and really get me on the path of sobriety. i still went to several meetings a week for a few months after that and now just a couple a month or more if i need it. but in the beginning, i needed those daily meetings, even if they were scary and i didn't want to go at first. but when you make those meetings a priority, it shifts your way of thinking. it's the beginning of training your brain off alcohol. you mind starts focusing on making that meeting and being accountable to those people in there instead of where your going to get your next drink and when you're going to drink. you build your day around the meeting. at least, i did. and shifting my focus off booze was what i needed to get me started on the path. those early meetings saved my life and i'd do them all over again.

Threshold

There is no magic number. Many communities these days have the luxury of numerous meetings per day, but early on...and in some remote areas that is not the case.

What is crucial is that you work on the steps, get a sponsor and meetings or not do your step work and stay in the atmosphere and mindset of recovery every day, many times a day.

Read your literature, get on here, call someone in recovery etc etc, every day.

When I first got into 12 step I hit at least one meeting a day, and twice a week or so two meetings a day, and when I was having a really bad day, THREE meetings a day. Then I moved to an area with NO meetings (I kid you not)...But no matter where I go, I have my literature, my sponsor, my support network and SR.

The important thing is to use whatever resources you have available in whatever way you can to support your recovery. You can stay sober on no meetings or one meeting a week, but if meetings are an asset...then take advantage of more of them. But never let a day go by where you are not working on recovery.

Sapling

Great post Threshold!

Mark75

Yea, that's it.

You will find the right balance, I did, 2 a week works well for me, but I really like my home group, I go early, stay late, too late sometimes...

Quality not quantity, though early in recovery, too much was just enough... LOL

Sapling

I like that too.

Dan23

Thanks for the replies everyone their are 4 meetings a week where I live I've decided to go to three. If I want to get sober I need to sort myself out and start going out more, hopefully my DR is going to up my dose on my anti depressants next week aswell

Sobersunshine

Hi Dan. Glad you're going to AA. Im new to recovery and I've found going almost daily to be the most helpful. I want to do 90/90. I don't always feel like going but I am ALWAYS glad I went.

Sapling

Give it all you got Dan!...You're off to a great start!!

jennikate

For me, at first, I went to at least one a day, many times two. First, I wanted to go to a lot of different groups to see which ones I liked. Soon, I started going to certain meetings every week-that way you get to know others and they you. Also I do usually go early and stay late. I feel like I benefit at least as much from that as the actual meeting.

2granddaughters

The more meetings I attended the faster my depression lifted and was replaced by hope. Your choice.

All the best.

Bob R

IndaMiricale

As you see it is all up to you

For me its been over a year and I still go almost daily, just because I love it. Its my social world and keeps me busy doing something I love. Sharing, talking, and helping anyone weather I know it or not..

Like Mark said from our Grateful Dead~ I used to say these two lines all the time drinking and drugging. I am going to hell in a handbasket but at least I will enjoy the ride..... And to much of everything is just enough...

Well I definatley apply the second to recovery. To much is just enough...

Keep going and keep growing...