There’s More to Life than Meetings

I’m a big believer in going to meetings. My first year in AA I must have gone to well over 400 meetings. They kept me sober, taught me the 12 Steps and began to restore me to my version of sanity.

But once we’ve got our feet under us, which probably means working all 12 of the Steps at least once and probably means after at least a couple of years, more often around five or six years, there comes a point when we can go to too many meetings.

I know, that’s heresy… this is what I mean. The 12 Step Program is designed to get us back in the world in a new, way. We essentially rejected the world with our addiction, whatever it was. But that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to stay out of the world once we recover.

The world is full of wonderful things and people… there’s family, and friends and lots of good people who are not in 12 Step Programs. There are things to learn, places to go. We can’t do all that, or even part of it if all we do with our spare time is go to meetings. Too many meetings leads to feeling we’re totally different from others. Too many meetings means avoiding the rest of the world.

How many meetings are too many? Only you can decide, but if you find yourself getting restless and wishing for more, step out and begin, gently, to explore.

No, I don’t mean give up all meetings – that’s extremism too. It’s really about finding balance.

Love, gratitude and blessings,