What's the point of doing a 90 And 90?

[ThelonleyMango]

What's the point of doing a 90 and 90? Why not just do meetings when one can?

[beginningagain7]

It really is a suggestion not written in stone. It basically a way for a newcomer to get comfortable in going to meetings and working on their recovery. It helps to find a sponsor that a person would feel comfortable with and a good way of learning the program. You have to remember that alcohol is cunning, baffling, and powerful. So doing 90 and 90 helps to set a foundation to help us with our recovery.

For me who drank 24/7 it helped me to set a foundation that I could battle this cunning, baffling and powerful disease. We didn't become alcoholics over night, and it is the same in recovery. You are not going to have recovery over night, it takes time and willingness to do what it takes to stop drinking.

Thanks for the question.

[Brock]

What's the point of doing a 90 and 90? Why not just do meetings when one can?

I agree with what John said, it's just a suggestion, and sometimes for the alcoholic who needs something to do and somewhere to be, each evening when they might normally be drinking, it can be useful. I understand it's something preached by rehabs, which many in AA have adopted.

Some think if we just say go when you can, then silly excuses like my favorite show is on TV at that time might come into play. On the other hand I have seen some fanatics about this, even here I remember people giving what seemed to be very good and valid reasons, why they couldn't make a meeting every day, and one or two members insisting that's not good enough, you must go. We should be able to judge whether the person really want's sobriety, and then just say do 90 in 90 if you possibly can.

[Spirit Flower]

In my experience, long before there were many rehabs, people did 90 in 90 to develop new habits. And yes they needed something besides sitting in their old haunts. people didn't go to rehab. They sat in AA meetings and shook.

[positrac]

In my experience, long before there were many rehabs, people did 90 in 90 to develop new habits. And yes they needed something besides sitting in their old haunts. people didn't go to rehab. They sat in AA meetings and shook.

^^^^^Agreed^^^^^


But one point for the original post:

ThelonleyMango

If you drank and used everyday then why wouldn't you make the same effort to get into new habits that can assist in the new lifestyle transition? It is one hour a day and I know for me I drank into days and so to sacrifice 1 hour is really easy because I would of rather killed myself if I had to stay in AA meetings nonstop for the times I drank because it would of been a living nightmare.

So ponder the alternative.

[avaneesh912]

There are different people attending AA meetings in modern era. Usually people getting multiple DUIs are forced to attend 90 meetings and 90 days by judge. Then there are people like me who went to AA without detoxification. Though my brain was mushed I was also curious about the need for 90 in 90, in fact I asked my sponsor the same question. He gave me an answer I wasn't convinced. What propelled me to work the steps was acquiring the right cognition of 1st step by listening to one of the guys on tape. I saw the dire nature of continuing without working the steps. So I started the process of cleaning up. What is preposterous asking a person who just came out of a treatment program and having already been exposed to AA in the treatment facility to attend 90 more meetings. I agree there are some people who have the tolerance for pain to have the luxury of exploring various options but we got to look at people one on one basis and not have a common suggestion for everybody walking into AA.

[Roberth]

Let we first say 90 meetings in 90 days come from treatment faculties and it can only be found in a single place in any of the AA conference approved material. There is nothing wrong with doing the 90 and 90. Personally I didn’t do it so I have no idea how it works. But what our literature does suggest that we do attend a lot of meetings in the beginning so we might heard someone story you can relate to. I know it made a world of different to me hearing my story being told by someone else, it was the day I came to believe AA would actually work for me too. The treatment faculties try and change your behavior we just show you how we changed ours or at least what I was taught to do.

[desypete]

over the years i have come to see that it all depends on how damaged you are when you come into aa
some come into aa with hardly any damage at all other than the fact they drink to much, and suffer from the mental twist side, others come into aa and have nothing left

for those who come to the fellowship with nothing left then 90 in 90 is a saving grace for them, it gives them people to be around, a start of a new routine in there lives, a purpose. they can be around right thinking people and lean on them in there early days

its a chance to make a start on the recovery journey and those who end up at the bottom know this only to well and the also know just how powerful aa really is when your in need that way

so today i offer out to anyone the chance to do 90 in 90 but if they have others things they would much rather do than that is up to them, no one forces on anyone

all i know is i needed those meetings in my early days as i had nothing and no one left. and aa and those people saved me and today my life is turned around big time all thanks to aa
i only wish others could really understand the differences between states of coming into the fellowship as it really does have a huge part to play in recovery and what works for some

the only way maybe people will understand just what its like is should they one day end up losing it all themselves and throw themselves into aa
but hopefully they never need to but it does hurt to see people come into aa, get some knowledge then decide they are ok now and dont need it anymore
we all know what happens next

[Blue Moon]

Why not just do meetings when one can?

Some say they did 180 in 90, and I always feel they're just trying to impress with numbers. 180 in 90 isn't going to double my chances ... it doesn't work that way. If I do nothing else in those 90 days, I'll still have the mental obsession on day 91.

I never did 90 in 90. But what I did was get proactive about my recovery, so I was doing things on a daily basis which were recovery-centric. Regular meetings are just one part of the package-deal.

If you want sobriety, you need to go to however many meetings you need to avoid drinking. After a while, and after a few steps, meetings cease to be all about alcohol-avoidance.

[avaneesh912]

For me this is how it went for the last couple years. I would go without drinking even for few months. No obsession. And then peculiar mental twist, I would convince myself I should be handle a few drinks. Then I would take it. Then the vicious cycle.

Bluemoon, I totally agree, if we dont do the other stuff, and don't realize what we are up-to and the solution, people get bored, complaisance keeps in and we drift.

[clouds]

I got sober in AA before the 90 and 90 saying was started. I was getting to as many meetings as I could then, this required taking the bus, getting rides from other AA women in my groups. I had children under age two and a husband who worked in sales and was away from home sometimes evenings. I still managed to get to three or four meetings a week though. My life saver was the telephone and other home makers in AA with kids who were sober. Also retired women who were good to phone me, kept tabs on me, answered my questions and encouraged me to read certain parts of the book of AA as they thought would help me do the steps and get sober. One group asked me to come early and set up the literature. That really made me feel like I must be getting somewhere if they trusted me to do that and I took it very seriously. I had to travel by foot and bus in a rough urban city area to get to that meeting and this taught me something about trusting a Power Greater than myself and asking what wasGod's will for me. Someone was always there to give me a ride home.

It is possible to get sober and work the steps and learn about the steps without going to 90 meetings in 90 days but I don't see anything bad about going to a meeting everyday if you can do it.

Sometimes those kinds of commitments like 90 in 90 can be contradictory though. Maybe for some people the commmitment could be just to be totally honest with themselves every minute, or to get a sponsor and do everything they are told to do.
Meetings really work, its a chance to hear how other people are doing their sobriety, watching and hearing how some succeed, some don't, so listen and try to hearhow those who stayed sober through thick and thin have done it.

[jenko]

I did 90 in 90 - and although it is only a suggestion, I think it can be a helpful one. I learned who people in the meetings were and gained a level of comfort being around others. I found a sponsor who started me on the steps. I also heard some really great suggestions in those early days from members, as well as shares that gave me hope things would really get better because TBH, it was pretty terrible early on! But you know, I saw how some people had a light in their eyes, an easiness about them, a calmness and wisdom that very much appealed to me. I also got my first experience with service by making coffee and helping clean up. Recovery, Unity, and Service.