13unluckyforsom

I don't quite appreciate your tone! Maybe you should re read my post I said I wasn't sure it was helpful for ME and MY recovery. And to be quite honest I AM bloody important - the same as we ALL are but I wasn't suggesting for one second that AA should change so yeah.... Think I've made my point. Read properly then engage your brain.

13unluckyforsom

And also nowhere did I mention a quick 'happy sobriety' or easy - the word wasn't even said! Go jump down someone else's throat. Like I said, I was thinking out loud - I wanted some opinions to help me as I wasn't dismissing it after one meeting and was going to try some more. So in Answer to your question no I don't swear off theatres for life after one bad movie. I do what most people would do and ask for an opinion on what they thinks good.

IOAA2

Good for you! They are referred to as 13 steppers and are not highly regarded. For this reason men stick with men, women with women. BE WELL

13unluckyforsom

Well done Zoe - no rain cloud of doom here it's good your going to have an extra focus with the cats! Exciting!

numptie

There's a saying in AA..'take what you need and leave the rest'. It's quite a selfish saying in a way but it can be helpful.
Why are so many alcoholics cat lovers? Someone ought to do a study

ZoeM

I'm looking forward to it I'm really more of a dog person, but anything with fur and eyes I fall in love with lol

IOAA2

Where does it refer that your not important? I was referring to my ego basically. There are a lot of things I didn't like when I first attended and I was told that if I didn't like the results my misery is refundable! I was among the millions that got sober, once the determents of overindulging started to clear up, for many years and you may also. I know how sensitive newly sober people are but try not thinking whatever is posted is about you. My brain may not be the sharpest however it's been alcohol free 30+ years one day at a time. BE WELL

Threshold

13, Welcome to sobriety!

I also found/find that listening to "drunkaloges" as they are called didn't help me. Sometimes it made me want to drink. Sometimes it made me think "well, I'm not like that...maybe I'm in the wrong place."

There are meetings that focus on Step Study, Big Book study, basically that stay in the solution, and discussion is focused on the program rather than sharing and swapping our personal issues. I found those more useful, they kept me on tract and showed me what the program was...so I could find out if I idenitfied with the program and if it was what I needed.

I'm with you as far as sharing personal issues with a roomful of strangers. I was there for recovery from alcoholism and that was all I chose to speak about. Where I worked, my relationship issues etc I didn't go into. I really did not want to talk at all about any relationship or sexual issues in the room because, the reality was that some of the men were predatory. (woman most likely to, but they didn't seem interested in me).

In my experience, the people who attended the Step Study and Big Book meetings were more focused on recovery, and there was less flirting etc before and after the meetings.

I myself have a tendency to flirt, gossip, etc so it was important for ME to stick in an atmosphere where that was not encouraged. It's an issue I have had to learn to set self will aside. A more formal program helped me do that.

tootsl1

13 I'm sorry some people here seem to see only negatives in your post, when you are obviously seeking advice. It takes courage to post a thread here, I hope the reactions of some do not dissuade you from continuing on SR.

I personally never went down the AA route, and am coming up six months ( whoop-de-do I imagine some here might say). I would certainly suggest you try another couple of meetings, different ones, to see if you get more out of them, as one previous post says, take what you want from it. If AA is not the way for you to recover, don't worry, there are other ways. I wish you all the best, and keep posting. Welcome to SR