Everyone hypes up AA. I’ve been to so many groups

Everyone hypes up AA. I’ve been to so many groups where there’s been no support. Sponsors disappearing, speakers making jokes about my real life experiences, people showing up 5 minutes late and leaving 5 minutes early. I just want people who have the same desire for sobriety, where we can lift each other up and continue to encourage each other

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I have really connected to a few zoom aa meetings. Dm so I can give you the link to both.

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All you can control in your life is how you show up. Amor Fati!

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AA I feel you’ve gotta do some exploration w it. I can always take away something positive from every meeting if I keep an open mind. Sometimes I close my eyes and meditate. It’s whatever I make of it. There are amazing people in the rooms but sometimes it takes time to find them. Like a lot of my non recovery friends I didn’t like my AA friends when I first met them. That’s part of my own development and letting go of habitually drawing (false) conclusions about people I’ve just met. It’s a process, a journey, a path that I’m happy to walk. I only seek happiness and peace and I feel AA and recovery work is part of the recipe needed for me to reach such states of being. We’re all in this together and here to help :smiley:

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I understand your frustration and I can relate. However, we are all at different levels in our own recovery. No one in the rooms is perfect. It's about progress not perfection. I believe in the 12th tradition it reminds us to place principles before personalities.

Here's something from the NA book that helps me with situations like this as well.

"There is one thing more than anything else that will defeat us in our recovery; this is an attitude of indifference or intolerance toward spiritual principles."

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Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. It isn’t about them it’s about you and you staying sober. If I’m upset or judging because of how other alcoholics work their program I’m missing the point. If it bothers me I’m 100% of the problem. How I’m perceiving it or etc etc. if I focus on my side of the street and try to keep it clean then I don’t worry about how others are doing their thing. I want to remain sober. Maybe they don’t.

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Don't feel bad, you probably just aren't one of the sheep. You can get sober without 12 step meetings. I'm happy as heck! I'm not saying don't do It if it works for you cause it obviously works for people but its not the only way. Some of these people get it in their head that there is no other way and it's just not true. In fact most the people I know in my life who are sober aren't 12 step people. People who I would hang out with. Not cause i met them in aa

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You get what you put into it, focus on your sobriety not others around you, get a sponsor and work the steps, it works if you work it..

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You have to take responsibility for your own program. AA is perfect, in theory. That’s the ideal I use, but I mix it with so much. I use everything from Buddhism to Toltec Shamanism to the Bible and back again. I mediate. And fitness is huge for me. I’ve done AA in Cali, my own state, etc. My local AA is awful, from my experience. Others would disagree. My point is I used to blame any and everything for my relapses, etc. But it’s my program and between me and my HP. Don’t give up.

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There is a common misconception of any 12 step meetings. Most of them are just about how great recovery is and lack real substance. I learned the most from 1 on 1 conversations with a good sponsor and some others that I could tell they really understood the program.
Meetings justify so much bad behavior. The reason I say this is because everyone has their own opinion on almost any subject.
I suggest you go to meetings and find 1 person that you are actually going to listen to and go from there.

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Would I also be able to get the link to the zoom please? Thank you :call_me_hand:t3::sunglasses:

Spot on Amiga! I use some of their common sense tools ( because straight out of Bible really) you know!? Like do in unto others, forgiveness, etc but mostly my own Power to not drink. You can’t blame it on a disease or say it’s not my fault. It is! because it’s a choice. albeit a harder choice for some more than others, but still a choice.

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I’ve been in and out of those rooms for years. I have used a lot of the tools to help me understand and refrain from alcohol. And I believe that not all of the time I have spent in AA was a “waste” and I do know that aa has been a life saver for thousands! It’s what ever works for you! I am more spiritual than religious. I practice lots of teachings. Mostly I juste abide with my Dudeism!… when I finally put it down I hadn’t been in a room for 3+ years, I just decided to be done! You can do it! Seek what ever help you need! You will be happy with the results, I promise! :v:t3:&:blue_heart: :sunglasses:

Have a regular weekly AA I attend mostly because it’s full of old timers I first got clean with in 80’s. Prefer the rawness of NA meetings tho the most. Alcohol is after all a drug also. Seems less strict and more down to earth. Maybe check one out sometime. Can’t hurt.

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Look for the similarities not the differences. What others do is none of my business. What I do is all I can control.

Check out Smart Recovery!

Someone 5 minutes late might’ve had a tough time choosing between getting to a meeting and picking up…we should be proud of them for choosing the meeting, not handing out late slips. Someone who leaves 5 minutes early might have to pick up their kid at daycare or run to a job interview.

The people who make jokes at your expense (or anyone’s, really) aren’t exactly modeling sober behavior. Nor are those who laugh at such jokes. But if you interrupt or leave the meeting every time you don’t like what someone says, you won’t hear the message.

You go to meetings for your sobriety, not to police other people’s behavior.

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I agree with this. I appreciate the people in AA with decades sobriety but the meetings never did it for me. If I don’t know anybody there, AA meetings always feel weird. Not as “raw”, like you said. I’ve never had that experience when I visit other NA groups.

Ahhhh, meant NA groups are raw in that people don’t get looked down upon for things like swearing and not caring what others might think when they share. Nothing against AA. Never been to a bad meeting. Getting plugged into a program so others can have your back when in need is what recovery is all about.

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I hear you - the openness about topics is the main thing for me. I’ve been to AA meetings where mention of anything other than alcohol made people bristle. And because of that I tend to be more reserved if I’m visiting a new group and don’t know anybody.