went to my first and last AA meeting
 

Like the title states I went to my first AA meeting last night as I wanted to see in person what they were like as previously I had only read about the experience. My impression was that I am not even close to the type of alcoholic's these people are. What I mean is that there stories are all of a severe chronic alcoholic that drinks at every chance including the morning and through the day until black out pretty much everyday and as you can guess they all have had terrible things happen to them. Basically I could not relate at all as I am an evening alcoholic for the most part that only black out maybe 2 or 3 times a year. I guess I am more of an acute alcoholic as I like good medium drunk not full out blinding drunk. Perhaps I would become the chronic down the road if I continue. Anyways now I know that AA is not for me. Not trying to bash AA but how do people go to meeting after meeting and say/listen to the same stories, read the same paragraphs/chapters out of their books day after day for months on end, after one evening (did an open and closed session) I am already tired of the repetitiveness of AA not to mention the whole religion/god thing which I am not at all interested in. At the end of the meetings they would hold hands in a circle and say there own prayer or whatever it is then say the lords prayer. Even though they kept assuring me the program is not religious but only spiritual I have my doubts as why do they always speak of god and have to say the lords prayer as that is religious and actually very biased as they don't include any religion other that Christianity. So if your any other religion I guess your out of luck when it comes to AA unless of course there are AA meetings that use other religions prayers and what not. Once again I am not bashing AA and if it works for you then that's great but I am just expressing my own feelings from my experience.

Thanks for listening,
Brian

Not all meetings are like that though. I am not a regular attendee myself but at the meeting I go to I'm almost embarrassed to share because I feel like I am way worse off than anyone there, the others seem to have fairly mild issues compared to mine.
One thing is right though, the fact that you will end up like them if you do not address your problem with alcohol. I wasn't always the way I am either. I was an "only in the evenings" wine gal myself. Until all of the sudden I was drinking at 10am….

Regardless how you do it, hope you are the type of alcoholic who can quit and learn to live and love a sober life.

If you have the obbsession about alcohol the you belong there no matter your consumption.....alcoholism is a disease of the mind as much as the physical.

It's good that you tried it out. AA is just one of many roads for sobriety so do not feel disheartened if it is not for you. What other tools are you going to incorporate for your recovery plan? I used cbt and exercise and meditation early on.

I had the same experience at my first several meetings. I hadn't done any of the things those people were talking about.

Two decades later I had done most of the things those people were talking about.

A shame, really, that my AV convinced me I was so different. I wasted a lot of my life believing it.

Go to AA or don't go to AA, I don't care how you choose to stay sober. Just don't kid yourself that you're not like them.


Best of Luck on Your Journey. :ring

AA is a spiritual program but a lot of their members are religious.

There are many other ways to get sober. I did it with counseling and daily visits to this site.

Please don't judge AA on one meeting.

If you change your mind the doors will always be open for you.

I have no idea what an acute Alcoholic is,you are either Alcoholic or non-Alcoholic.

Brian alcoholism is alcoholism in the evening is the same as in the morning time doesn't define an alcoholic, alcoholism defines an alcoholic I was once an evening drinker scratch that I was once a weekend drinker scratch that I was once a once in a blue moon drinker scratch that once I never used to drink at all

If you catch my drift you know what I mean

I have attended tons of different meetings. I think you should check out a few. It cant hurt. I didn't wake up and drink all day either. I waa a binge drinker at night myself.
However, I find others stories as a reminder of how progressive this disease can get. You can always leave before the ending prayer.
Best advice i got was in a small town aa meeting in Indiana. "Take what you can use and leave the rest."
Remember its your own recovery. Glad you are here.

Hi Brian,

AA wasn't the right fit for me either, however, I know many people on this site have remained sober thanks to this program. I think we each need to find the path that works for us to achieve sobriety.

AA may not be for you but one thing is for sure, if you continue to drink you will end up with one of those horrifying stories of your own. I was an "evening drinker only" as well but a few years later I was drinking all day on the weekends. It eventually progressed to me missing work to drink all day. It snowballs and it does so quickly. Find whatever works for you but get sober now before you end up in a far worse situation. Alcoholic is alcoholic. It's good you realize your problem now. Take that knowledge and make the best of it! I wish you the best!

Brian, I agree with what others have said, including Soberwolf. Good for you on going to an AA meeting.

This disease is progressive and if you are like I was it will continue to get worse and worse throughout your drinking career. I didn't start out drinking in the mornings or at work, but I ended up there. My AV convinced me (I convinced myself) that drinking 24/7 was totally normal and that I was justified to take that first drink at 9:30 on weekend mornings, and by 11 am during the work week.

Bottom line, recovery sources and techniques differ for everyone. My only source for recovery is SR. Not because I have anything against any other sources, but because belonging to this community is what works for me.

Find your own path, but I wouldn't be so quick to judge others in the AA meetings as on a different level than you are. Alcoholism is alcoholism, some more severe, some less, but everyone having the same problem that once we start we can't stop.

One day at a time, never give up.

AA Toronto Agnostics - AA Toronto Agnostics Home Page

There are many choices, even within programs/groups

Clearing up a few misconceptions
 

As someone who has utilized the AA program to stay sober for the past 14 years and is not religious I have to disagree with your assessment that "if your any other religion" "than Christian" "I guess your out of luck." I came into this program as an Agnostic borderline Atheist. Today my views have evolved but I am by no means religious. I do not worship any God. I do not attend or subscribe to any particular religious philosophy. I do however choose to keep an open mind and incorporate the things that make the most sense to me into my spiritual program. There is a difference between spirituality and religion. Religion is a tradition and dogma, a set of rules one has to follow, a specific God one has to worship. Spirituality on the other hand allows one to find ones own path, there is no God one has to worship, no dogma and traditions to follow, one is free to believe however works best for them.

As far as the "Lords Prayer" at the end of the meetings I know several people in my area who choose to not participate in it. They just either choose not to recite it or they choose not to stand in the circle. The prayer is simply a way to close the meetings. It was chosen years ago because it was a prayer that most people knew not because AA was endorsing Christianity.

If AA had been a religious program I would have run from it and would be dead today. It was my last hope to stop drinking as I had made up my mind to kill myself as I had no hope left. I felt I could no longer go on living drinking and I did not believe I could live life without drinking.

There are many types of drinkers who utilize AA as a recovery program. I have met people all along the spectrum from those who were daily drinkers and would wake up in the night to take a drink to those who were weekend bingers. We even have many meetings in our area where treatment center people are brought in. Many of those people are in the treatment center because they were given a get out of jail free card if they went to treatment and their main problem is drugs not alcohol. But from what I have seen over the years AA works for a variety of people. A lot depends of whether one is open to seeing the similarities not the differences.

As far as getting bored sitting in meetings with the same readings over and over. People go to meetings after finding sobriety for many reasons; to keep the meetings going so there are meetings for new people coming in; to share their experience, strength, and hope of how they are sober with new people; as a way to remind themselves by listening to the stories of others why they don't need to pick up the first drink; to interact with other sober alcoholics; to learn more about working and applying the Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to their lives; to reach out in sponsorship to the newcomer; etc... Even now I go on average to 2 meetings a week and am back in a 12 Step Study group and a Big Book Study group as I feel there is always something I can learn and the more I learn the better defense I have against picking up that first drink. Even after all this time I am not immune to doing that if I don't do what needs to be done to prevent it.

As others have said AA is not for everyone, there are other recovery programs out there. If it is not for you then I wish you the best and hope you find what works for you. I just wanted to clear up some misconceptions that it appears you may have gotten.

I felt exactly that same way the first time I went to an AA meeting.

Ten years later I was back, realizing Id been a lot more like 'those people' than Id understood.

I sometimes wonder what the past decade of my life would have been like if Id looked for the similarities instead of the differences.

Also, Im still not religious. Or Christian.

I agree that it is very easy to not say the prayers if you don't want to.
I don't say the Lord's prayer simply because I never learned it in Italian and there in the moment it is being recited so quickly I don't have time to translate. i whisper the serenity prayer in English. I'm not religious either, but I have no problem with people praying around me or even praying (holding hands and/or reciting a prayer). It is not like people are reciting something incredibly offensive or unjust "kill all babies, burn all dogs!" It is just a prayer. you can believe it or not believe it, recite it or not recite it, stay for it or not stay for it.
Again, as others have stated, AA is not for everyone and I myself am not a regular attendee nor have I don' the steps, nor do I think about or do something AA related daily. However, I think people pull out the religion stuff as an excuse not to attend. Unless you are seriously hard core atheist or a devil worshipper, is a group of people praying for serenity really that offensive or some mega turnoff?

Take a look around SR and you will find lots of suggestions and paths to follow to recovery.

I don't go to AA but have been to meetings in the past. I found my first meeting very overwhelming, almost surreal. I did go back and found it easier the more I went. that said, I didn't get sober with AA. There are many paths it's all about finding one that suits you.Even though i don't do AA I would say don't write it off from just one meeting.