AndreTT

Do you think there are meetings that are sick and you're better off alone than going to them? I wonder this because, well, I live in south america in a fairly isolated area where there isn't many meetings and they are kinda small. I've been going to this same meeting for almost two years, 38 km away from my house because, well, pretty much I have no options. In all this time a lot of newcomers came to this room but none stayed for more than a few weeks. When I began coming to this meeting two years ago there was an average atendance of six, seven people and now it is still pretty much the same people who attend. There hasnt been any growth. One person who was a regular became very angry with some conflict over service positions and left almost a year ago, never came back, even though she lives two blocks away from the meeting. I look around at the members and it feels like there hasn't been much progress in their lives. I feel like they all treat me like a child because I'm much younger than them (I'm 24 they're on their 50s). I never ehard anyone talk about how they took a Step. The longest stretch of sobriety I had in these two years I WASN'T coming to the meeting at all. They don't seem too much connected to AA as a whole also. Hell, sometimes I wonder why I still come. I wanna travel and visit another AA meeting to see what is it like but it's kinda hard since I work full time and I have no transportation. Does anyone have thoughts or similar experiences?

ScottFromWI

Meetings are varied as the people who attend them, and that's not specific to AA, it's simply human nature. If you think trying a different meeting might help, give it a try.

mistory5

There are great meetings on the phone. Just type in aa telephone meetings in your browser and u will get a list. The ones I'm referring to r in us but maybe u could narrow your search to where u live. There are also online meetings and sykpe meetings. I can't get to face to face meetings often but the phone meetings have been a saving grace.

Soberwolf

Keep trying !!

Ruby2

I've run into this at a place where I sometimes attend meetings. As Scott said, it's human nature and not just specific to AA meetings. All of the meetings at this one place seem to have turned into discussion meetings of the "thought for the day" and involve the same people. No step or big book discussions. Fortunately for me there are tons of different meetings elsewhere. I've not tried the phone meetings but that's a great suggestion.

Do you have a supportive friend who can give you a ride to the more distant meetings if you pay for gas? Or if you know any of the newcomers who came and left contact them with the same offer? Good luck.

courage2

I can imagine that a negative small group of people could make it hard to concentrate on principles above personalities. You might focus on using online resources, SR chat meetings, speaker tapes and so on, and maybe trying to go to occasional retreats when you can get out of town. I know some people who've done that while working in remote villages in Africa and they swear by it.

LBrain

Unfortunately there are those kind of meetings. And, unfortunately, you are a slave to supply and demand.

aasharon90

You could call a group conscience meeting
and talk about incorpering step studys and
Big Book Studies along with regular meetings.

Maybe start a Step Study and having it
every Tuesday. Maybe every Wednesday
a Big Book Study and Saturdays for
a Speaker meeting.

Just a few thoughts to ponder.

tomsteve

yup, it happens.
and reads like a great opportunity to start a new meeting/

Joe Nerv

That's exactly what I was thinking.

I'd look into what's necessary to start, and then promote a new meeting. And if that's too much of an undertaking, you can always find 2 or 3 like minded people and have small informal meetings. My first few years sober we often had "private" bigbook study meetings with just my sponsor, me, and 2 other friends.

Yeah, there are some crappy meetings. Fortunately for me I live in NY. I have at least 50 different meetings within 15 to 45 minutes of me on any given night. I forget sometimes that we all don't have that luxury.

sugarbear1

Have you asked them directly how they stay stopped and how they work the steps?

they may be old school and are waiting to be asked.......

desypete

if there are only 5 or 6 people in your area then i doubt trying to start a new meeting could work

are there no buses or trains you can get to go to other meettings ?

when i was first around aa i got the bus and train everywhere to meetings all over the area or members gave me lifts if i asked for them but i was to proud to ask half the time even that had to change

when i said to some of the old timers i dont have a car so i can not get to many meetings
they told me that they would bet me i would soon find a way to get there if there was drink to be had
they were right, i had to put the same commitment and effort into trying to stay sober as i would if i was going to buy booze
nothing ever stopped me from buying booze no matter what the weather was like, no matter if i had a car or not i would get the booze

JanieJ

This ^^^^^^^.