Meetings are a great way to get involved in the recovery community and benefit from hearing the experience, strength, and hope of others. In early sobriety, it is suggested to attend a meeting every day for the first 90 days. “90 in 90” is a great way to develop the healthy habit of incorporating recovery into your life and immerse yourself in the recovery community during the vulnerable early stages of sobriety. However, meetings alone are not sufficient if we are to be successful in our development. The logo of Alcoholics Anonymous is that of a circle enclosing a triangle. Bill Wilson, co-founder of AA, explained in a 1955 speech, “The circle stands for the whole world of A.A., and the triangle stands for A.A.’s Three Legacies of Recovery, Unity, and Service. Within our wonderful new world, we have found freedom from our fatal obsession. That we have chosen this particular symbol is perhaps no accident. The priests and seers of antiquity regarded the circle enclosing the triangle as a means of warding off the spirits of evil, and A.A.’s circle and triangle of Recovery, Unity, and Service has certainly meant all of that to us and much more.” Attending meetings fall into the “Unity” aspect of Three Legacies, but the two other aspects, service and recovery, correlate with carrying the message to others and achieving recovery from working the 12 Steps, respectively. The goal of 12-Step recovery is to have a spiritual experience and entire psychic change that completely shifts an individual’s behavior, removing the mental obsession and desire to use drugs or alcohol. Attending meetings, sharing, and listening can all be cathartic experiences and help a person attempting to achieve sobriety, but without working the 12 Steps, he or she is unlikely to be able to maintain sobriety. Cocaine Anonymous, a 12-Step recovery fellowship dedicated to recovery from cocaine and all other mind-altering substances, suggests several ways to help a person stay clean and sober in their first thirty days: maintain entire abstinence; go a meeting every day; get a sponsor and begin working the 12 Steps, get phone numbers of other CA members and build a support system; and remember to take recovery one day at a time. Meetings are one of the bright spots in our lives, but without engaging in a recovery program and getting involved in service, our chances of recovering from addiction and alcoholism are greatly diminished.
Your story does not have to be one of needless suffering in addiction. Recovery is possible, and you can make the decision to build a better future by seeking help now. Oceanfront Recovery, a treatment facility in beautiful Laguna Beach, offers cutting-edge treatment techniques, including inside and outside 12-Step meetings, as part of the Residential Treatment program. For more information about Residential Treatment and other individualized treatment options, please call today: (877) 279-1777
