Last night I went to a meeting, I almost wasn’t going to go because I had the excuse that I was feeling like I was craving alcohol less, I had my period and I hadn’t spent much time with my husband.

I’m an alcoholic, and whilst I’m in recovery and don’t feel like drinking today, I cannot guarantee that I won’t drink tomorrow. I think because I have survived 1 month and 1 week of sobriety that I am starting to get this arrogance about my sobriety, I think I don’t need to go to meetings because I am feeling good, I’m not drinking alcohol and I don’t feel like a drink. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

My sponsor regularly tells me that I am helping her just as much as she is helping me and that it is so important for alcoholics to continually learn from one another.

Risk of Relapse

Overall the meeting last night was pretty boring, there was nothing in the meeting that particularly inspired me, except for one lesson that reinforced why I must attend my AA Meetings.

Because of my arrogance about my sobriety, I am at real risk of busting, last night, a member who had been sober for over 12 years, talked about how she busted 3 months ago. She’s now not in a good space and attending an intensive program of AA meetings to try and get herself back on track.

I never understood how you would relapse after so long, but yet I know how every time in the past when I’ve tried to stop drinking, within a few days, a week or maybe a few weeks I’ve found an excuse to get back on my alcohol.

No matter how many days / weeks / months sober we are, as an alcoholic there are so many temptations out there. Alcoholism has a very high rate for relapse, and according to an American study, only 46% of Americans remained sober after treatment, whilst AA members reported a slightly higher rate of 49%. So even with AA, I am at an extremely high risk of relapse, and without AA, I’m at a much higher rate of relapse.

So what is my action plan to stay sober?

• At this stage I am intending to attend at least 2 AA Meetings a week.
• I will continue to work with my sponsor to work my way through the 12 steps
• I will keep myself away from situations where alcohol may be prevalent in the early stages of sobriety