Do I Have to Go to
Meetings?
Yes, but there are options
Over and over again
people coming to 12 Step Recovery to handle their addictions ask, "Do
I have to go to meetings? For the rest of my life?"
This is one of those issues
I didn't have – I looked forward to meetings as a way to get out
of the house. But
it's a real problem for some.
The traditional answer is
you must go to meetings if you want to let go of your addiction. As usual,
however, that response doesn't reflect the huge variety of ways people get
well.
The real answer is,
"no, you don't have to go to meetings, but it probably will make your
life much easier if you do." The reason the answer is 'no' is not because the
meetings aren't tremendously valuable, they are. But there are
alternatives.
Loners
For example, from almost the
beginning, A.A. had a group of "loners."
These were people who lived and worked in far-flung areas of the world.
They discovered that they could stay sober when they kept in contact, via
letters and short-wave radio, with others. It wasn't possible for them to
attend meetings, so they created another solution. Contact your nearest A.A., N.A.
etc. office to find out how to participate. You can also get information
by writing to:
A.A. World Services, Inc. P.O.Box 459 Grand Central Station New York, NY
10163 or by sending email to Loners International Meetings (LIM) at lim@aa.org
Online meetings
A much newer phenomena is
the online meeting. There are dozens and dozens of these on the web, and
some people find them an adequate substitute for meetings in brick and mortar
places. I've used them myself, and know some who use them exclusively.
There are a couple of
potential problems with online meetings. First of all, you'll be using a
nick name to log on. This means you won't really be 'known' in the same
way you would be in f2f meetings or by letter or radio. You can lessen
this impact by using the same nickname all the time – that way your
identity will begin to show which is valuable in this business of getting
clean and sober.
The other problem is that
you don't know who is in the chat room because they are also using
nicknames. So you have to be extra careful about the advice and
suggestions. Knowing the Program is a partial defense against this; so is
choosing one or two online meetings and attending them on a regular basis
so you get a true feel for who is who.
So,
bottom line is you don't have to go to meetings. There are alternatives.
But really, I strongly suggest you do attend some.
Love, peace and
abundance,
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