Disenchanted with AA? Well...that's right on track

I honestly can’t remember if I had 3 or 4 years of recovery at the time, but I was bored with AA and it scared me.

Mind you, I was very active in the program, but it came down to just feeling like something was off. How could that be when I’m doing “all the things” the program asked?

It must be me…….

Today I was talking with a sober sister who said those words, “I’m disenchanted with AA.”

I get it!!!!

When I look around the rooms, I see many newcomers with under 5 years. Then we have the old-timers with 20, 30 years. So where are all the people with 5-20 years? They are mostly gone.  Did they give up and drink? Sure, maybe some lost their sobriety, but certainly not all.

So, it tracks for me that at a certain point in AA you look around and ask, is this it? For the rest of my life?

When you are newly sober, you need meetings and lots of them. You are literally re-wiring your brain and need the deep “indoctrination”. Once it lands, the rooms can feel stuffy. “I’ve heard that story before, omg here he goes again” ….It seems to stop helping. You start to feel like you are stagnating, but you are “doing all the things.”

What’s really going on here? I think I have an idea:

LACK of life balance and creating a sober LIFE full of “all the things”.

In the beginning, AA sucks up all your extra time, it’s your very LIFELINE to life. It’s just like an embryo who needs nourishment from mom during pregnancy. At some point, the baby goes off that lifeline to expand to other forms of nourishment. The baby doesn’t leave the mother but grows OUTSIDE the mother.

BALANCE. That’s all, LIFE BALANCE.

So, if you are feeling disenchanted with AA, just know that’s totally normal and part of your bigger growth. It doesn’t mean you are going to relapse, it means you just need to (fill in the blank) Workout more? Spend more time with the family? Create that new idea? Start a business? Build your sober future? Get backyard chickens? (haha that's just my thing)

The point is: YOU know what’s missing, you know what’s lacking. That’s also part of “the program” page 88 in the Big Book: "Can we stay sober, keep in emotional balance and live to good purpose under all conditions?"

BALANCE, it comes highly recommended!

Get some!