So I was going to go to an AA meeting yesterday evening, but at the last minute decided not to. It wasn’t so much the anxiety of going someplace and being around lots of new people by myself. But more the fact I’ve always wanted to drink after an AA meeting. I’ve been to three so far (each in different locations) and they were ok… But I think being around so many people talking about their drinking for an hour made me want to drink…which I inevitably did.
Has anyone else had that kind of experience? I think I’d like to find a sober social group to do things in the evenings with (I know I’ll have Training for Warriors three times a week…but that still leaves 4 evenings and I’d like to have at least two out of that four with other sober people). I just dont know how to go about finding groups like that here in Edinburgh outside of AA.
Hi @Lncy. That’s interesting. I never found AA meetings triggering. They do talk about past drinking, but not in a good light! I mean, many of us on the forum also discuss drinking a lot. I guess the reaction varies from person to person.
For social activities, have you considered volunteering? In USA there are sites like volunteermatch. Also meetup.com for sober social activities. Or team sports? You seem active.
I think for me it’s different here because I don’t actually “hear” you all…It’s more triggering for mea to physically see and hear. Tv shows do it to me too weirdly enough.
Yeah I’m going to go back to kickboxing and was thinking about taking up boxing, but they’re training on the same nights as Training for Warriors. I’ll have a look at the sober meet ups…used to go to the running ones when I lived in Dublin and completely forgot about them. Thanks @JohnSee
Do you have a sponsor? Or do you talk to other people after the meeting? A lot of us hang out after meetings, go to coffee, dinner, have barbecues, parties, and do all kinds of social things outside of meetings.
If you find that Alcoholic Anonymous meetings make you want to drink, let people know that you need someone to hang out with after the meeting and help you get past you wanting to drink immediately after meeting.
Meetings are great, but I find that one alcoholic talking to another, regardless of the subject matter, is miraculous. I don’t know what the magic behind it is, but it works for me.
I wouldn’t go if you feel it’s a trigger. I’ve never heard of that. Meetings for me do quite the opposite. Drinking loses all of its appeal after hearing multiple people talk about their bottoms, jail time, losing their kids, ruining their health, getting fired, becoming homeless, etc.