Couple of questions about AA ...

[Phlosphr]

@plnnr

Not to hijack the thread, but I often get the feeling the long term members have given up one addictive behavior only to take up another. One member of my Al-Anon group, for instance, has not been married to her alcoholic spouse for more than 20 years - in fact, he’s dead. She continues to attend meetings regularly.

In the scheme of things, being addicted to a regular meeting for whatever reason is no big deal in my book, but I wonder if, at some point, the long termers will ever say, “OK - I’ve done my work, I’ve followed my program, I’m moving on.”

Many stay in the program for long periods of time because if you think about it they not only get sober, [ or in the case of ALANON get a better understanding] but they also make some very good wholsome friends. I have made some friends that I count as very close to me. I invite them for dinner, we go out, we socialize we have fun together. So many like the fellowship very much! And it is very much a fellowship.
The religiosity of the whole thing doesn’t bother those of us who take the meetings as a time for a daily reprieve with other drunks who understand what we are going through. “Normal” Drinkers sometimes don’t understand that.