Mini Series 7 - Do recovering people have to go to meetings their entire life?

Busting Addiction and Its Myths

In this podcast, the producer of our podcast series, Tony, asks the following question:
Do recovering people have to go to meetings their entire life?

1. One way to look at the question is: "You have to go to meetings until you want to go to meetings and then you don't have to go to them anymore". What starts as an obligation turns into a desire.
2. Taking the "forever" view obscures an important tenet of recovery: the goal of life-long recovery achieved but one day at a time.
3. It is indeed a personal obligation to oneself to go to meetings. The benefits reveal themselves in due time if given a chance. One makes lifelong friends in the fellowship, friends who share a passion for helping each other stay sober and enjoy life to the fullest.
4. If one thinks of the small price paid for going to meetings - a few hours a week and a few bucks in the basket - for the benefits gained in sobriety, it will not be seen as a sacrifice. One will think of it as a blessing.

There exists a myth that going to meetings for the rest of one's life is drudgery. The myth evaporates when a recovering person aspires to life-long recovery just one day at a time.