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From the Book

Things My Sponsors Taught ME
By Paul H.

On “Hiding Out” at Meetings

If you keep going to meetings where nobody knows you, nobody will notice when you stop going—or when you die.

The caution is against going only to larger (usually open) meetings or “shopping around” for meetings until you get into the position where almost no one knows if you’re attending meetings or not. This form of isolation is particularly dangerous to the newer member, but it can be a danger to any recovering alcoholic. The very nature of A.A. is a mutual caring and sharing group, whose members participate in each other’s recovery because they share a common past.

The last part of the quotation refers to another piece of A.A. wisdom, namely that relapse is almost without exception preceded by dropping meetings, and then not going to any meetings. “Stinking thinking leads to stinking drinking” is another truism quoted by my sponsors over and over.


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