Not bad mouthing AA it really helped me in the beginning. I was from a small town area with many old timers. But as I grew in my sobriety the judgements from others towards people suffering from not just alcoholism and from many being scared to even attend a wedding. I felt if I couldn’t attend a family event or a concert or any type of event while these could be triggering not going I felt alcohol was still controlling my life. I was wondering if others felt this disconnect. I still attend here or there to bring people when asked about it. But I feel has anyone found something else or a community for love and support which was a huge helping aspect.
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Good luck in your exploration. I do wish you the best. Always know your chair is available without judgement. The hand of AA will be there. 
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I went through the same thing. One time I missed a meeting because I joined the health club, exercise has always helped with my depression/anxiety, and I did not drink, but the next time I came back, they told me I need to put my sobriety first. They told me my relapse is doing push-ups outside.
In the very beginning, you should avoid events with alcohol, but you can’t lock yourself in the basement of a church and not go to weddings or anything. I think the one thing that bothered me most is there seem to be one person in every meeting that would be super super judgmental, and they tended to lay into the most vulnerable. I didn’t like seeing that. But let’s be honest, if you put eight people in a room anywhere there’s always gonna be some problems with the dynamics. And like you said, in the.beginning I believe is it’s a must.
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Thats your experience my experience was i was welcomed with lovely people who got round me and were helpful and after i got a home group i felt at home, paid back their kindness by putting a bit back like service work visiting prisons ,hospitals and ive been sponsoring guys through the program for a few decades now , i life life to the full events with booze dont bother me and have for a few years now when i got sober only AA was there at that time i know times are changing but im old school and i wish everyone well what ever road they take to get sober
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Seven years ago when I quit drinking I found this here place. Did some meetings early on too, not just 12 steps btw, others too.
Since I had some bad social anxiety back then - which by now has diminished greatly through therapy - this online forum is the one that stuck for me. Been here daily for all this time, made some great sober friendships around the world, learned so much about addiction and recovery. This is my home group.
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My favorite saying in AA is take what you need and leave the rest.
I’ve been sober with and without being active in AA. Its a very powerful tool to have in your recovery toolbox. I highly recommend.
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Like I said helped in the beginning, I probably rubbed people the wrong way once I had 3 years in and they didn’t just have alcohol addiction but other addictions and I’d tell people let them speak