How many meetings do you go to?
 

Greeting on my first post!
Two weeks sober and been going to meeting for three... I have stopped drinking and gone to meetings before but this is the first time I am doing it for "me".
Love the guys and gals at the meeting I found but there is a lot of talk about people going every day or even multiple times a day.
I'm a very introverted guy so it is difficult for me to get out and socialize.
Curious to find out from people here how many meetings are working for you?
Thanks in advance!

I go most days. An hour or so out my day isn't a big ask! I found the real solution in going through the program with my sponsor and practising it in my life. At 5 months it is still early days but I had to change the person I was taking to the meetings because my experience was bouncing in and out of AA until i changed! The 12 steps gave me a solution :)

I went to many in early sobriety as I didn't want to be alone with myself. Almost 4 years later and I made a commitment to attend at least 2 a week, most weeks making that commitment....sometimes I attend more, but I am aware of my motives for attending those meetings. I still meet with my sponsor once a week for about 2 hours.

Zero. But I like to read here when I can.

I now do three or four meetings a week, I have been going for five years now. At first seven meetings a week, just like I used to drink.

I just wanted to second the idea of putting as much work into your sobriety as you did your drinking. We put a lot of time and energy into drinking, so we do have time and energy to put towards sobriety. Might sound Pollyanna-ish but it's true.

I committed to doing 90 in 90 this time, as I've relapsed the other times when I got 'too busy'
I don't think there's a right number, but if you find they help, why not take advantage of that help?

I go to 3-4 meetings every week. Sometimes I go to 5 in a week.

Zero, but I am here at SR daily. Coming here daily and interacting is a big key to my success thus far.

hi just incredible, a fellow canadian.

i have only been sober 4 days but for me that is an awesome success. i have never been to a live AA meeting and found SR after loving into an online AA meeting where i admitted for the first time to another i was an alcoholic (privately i had known for years just could not admit it out loud).

like you i have been checking in frequently, reading and writing.
tomorrow is day 5 and i am really excited that i have found SR

stay strong!

Hey *****!
Congrats on the success! The hardest part can be just walking through the doors of an AA meeting for the first time, but the people are for the most part very welcoming and friendly. Much like SR.
Keep up the good work.

I've always averaged out at about 2 or 3 I think. I do love a good meeting, but that's seeming enough as long as I do my own work to back it all up.

My sponsor also explained the importance of the plan being a daily part of my life, with that meaning my daily reflections and prayers / meditation to start each day, and gratitudes to end it. This really helps me, and although it felt a bit strange at first, I now notice an 'unsettled'feeling when I don't do it.

There are some really good speaker 'tapes' ('tapes!''how quaint!) that are available to listen to on Youtube and to download. As my car stereo has stopped co-operating with me I've been listening to Mickey B in there (so other drivers think I'm nuts as I'm generally laughing my face off). Also they're pretty good to listen in to while cleaning or similar. Early days with those, so still finding more that I like, and that explain things the best way for me. These are my favourites so far...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJXNmvDvXn4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L0hemu0vqU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVt8ooZcLCs

Thanks everyone for the replies! I get it that more is better but it is also difficult because I am very introverted... I am rather surprised as how much I like the group I have found and how much I am connecting with the other members, they are also encouraging me to attend other meetings. I have a booklet with all the local meeting given to me by my counselor (how I found the meeting I am at now) and I have underlined meeting close by for every day of the week... but yeah... so far only getting out to the one meeting.

scooterdog writes>>>Curious to find out from people here how many meetings are working for you?<<<

Today zero meetings work for me due to being recovered. Years ago I attended on average probably 6 meetings a week. Some weeks I'd attend twice a day. Then, meetings helped affirm my desire to recover, but meetings were not my program of recovery.

Glad you're here, Welcome!

I have attended meetings pretty much daily since last June. I enjoy meetings and am a gregariuous person. As we learn the program is the steps as outlined in the Big Book not the fellowship/meetings. I gravitate towards those who share on the solution - not how I felt or what I thought etc. What did they do = action

There is a lot of sharing that sounds like a country western song. For me, this work on development of tolerance for others which is sorely needed in my life.

This is interesting (Note: I'm 58 years old and been a functioning alcoholic for +30 years but only three weeks into the program) and the folks at the meeting I'm going to are mostly +10 years sober. (I absolutely am not trying to be negative just honest) The vibe I'm getting from the people is you need to go to multiple meetings a week (or maybe even multiple meetings a day) and that you never really "graduate" from going to meetings.

I understand everyone is different and recovery may be very different for each person... just trying to get a feel for what will work for me.

I mean some people need to go into outpatient rehab Vs others can make it happen by going to a few meetings a week (or so it seems, again... I know nothing just searching right now).

Thanks again,
Scott

Scott - we are close to the same age. I stopped drinking last June. Longest period of sobriety by far since Nixon was in office!

I have no idea if I will go to meetings the rest of my life or even tomorrow. When I started meetings I simply went. I listened to "keep coming back". Others told be simply do not drink and don't do it alone.

I followed that advice. I got some phone numbers and talked to other alcoholics every day. I needed to make sure my brain was not left unattended for very long - it's the same brain that got me here.

My point is we will both discover what works for us as our journey continues. I don't have to be concerned about tomorrow - I simply live in the moment, just for today. I won't drink today and I won't do it alone. The future is a mirage and does not concern me in terms of "planning" my sobriety.

Keep coming back (All of us!)

Kind Regards

I'm a little over a year and I plan to go to a meeting every day. The planning to go to a meeting thing reminds me that I'm someone that could use a meeting every day, even if something comes up and I can't make it.

In practice, I miss 1-3 days/month and some days, I hit 2 (on the weekends). When I miss, there's a good reason and I don't ever skip just because I don't feel like going.

I try to go to meetings, no matter the circumstance (good/bad day, rain, sun, snow, or armageddon), so I don't pick up a drink, no matter the circumstance.

scooterdog writes>>>The vibe I'm getting from the people is you need to go to multiple meetings a week (or maybe even multiple meetings a day) and that you never really "graduate" from going to meetings.<<<

When the Alcoholics Anonymous text was written in 1938 there weren't any AA meetings or AA fellowship. As written, the first edition text as well as the multilith was left intact. The only changes in future editions were additions e.g. Spiritual Experience.

AA meetings aren't the suggested program of recovery. The AA text states it very simply in Chapter 5 HOW IT WORKS, on page 59, it reads, Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery: It doesn't read, Here are the meetings we attended, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

What you heard is the typical AA party-line, and it's fear based, but it's not the Alcoholics Anonymous suggested program of recovery. In this context, those that live with this fear are still psychologically addicted.

David Stewart, MD stated well the difference between abstinence and sobriety in his book "thirst for freedom".....

"Few people realize that sobriety is an action of insights and skills far beyond mere abstinence. Sobriety is a creative discipline in the art of freedom of growth and of love. To be yourself, is to become yourself."

I know the steps are the program, but meetings were a huge help for me especially early on before I had an understanding of the steps and worked them with my Sponsor. Yes I can call my sponsor, but going to big book meetings and step meetings just made sense to me.

Luckily we have plenty of options here in Chicago so it was very easy to make 2 meetings a day in the beginning. The 6:30 am meeting was a great way to start my day before work. It isn't like 90 in 90 is some magic number, but it does set a good foundation. I also enjoy the fellowship and have made some great friends in AA.

Tonight is my wanderers group where we have a group of 7 guys and rotate whose house we are at each week. Start with a reading or step and everyone comments on that and then basically talk about where we are at and how our week is going. It is not a typical meeting (more cross talk, and laughter, and gets quite serious at times). It is definitely my favorite meeting of the week. I don't go out of fear of drinking, but because I enjoy going and get a lot out of it so why stop now?