I attend a 12-step meeting for a different addiction. I have friends in AA, NA, and various other groups as well. We all have had the experience that being a part of a meeting, having people there that we are regularly accountable to and who give us support, is crucial.
The steps are not just about alcohol or addiction. When they talk about taking a fearless moral inventory, when they talk about making amends, when they talk about rigorous honesty, they are providing a new way of living that is a basis for maintaining a healthy attitude which keeps me free from turning to that addiction.
Trying to fight temptation by "white-knuckling it" usually does not work. Instead, the key for me is to cultivate a whole different mind-set, and that is what entering into the "culture" of regular meeting attendance and working the steps brings about. I then become the kind of person who is more likely to remain sober.
That's been my experience at any rate. I wish you the best.
Yes, I've struggled with alcoholism for years....I have gone for several months at a time without drinking, and then ended up getting drunk every day for a couple of weeks. This has happened on multiple occasions.
A very good friend of mine certainly does. Fortunately she is wise enough to go to an AA meeting when the urge gets strong. She has been dry for 30 years and still goes to AA on a regular basis.
You probably should go to a meeting if you are really struggling and they help you, not trying to tell you what to do but you don't wanna give up all your progress
Meetings are one of those things. If they're the sort of thing that helps you, then they'll help. If they're not, they won't. Only you know whether the structure of AA is something that will help you.
