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A friend recently told me about an app called Meeting Finder, and like a true alcoholic, he stood beside me and made sure I downloaded it. I’m glad he did.
Meeting Finder is amazing. It’s an approved web site, managed by AA, that shows where meetings are. You can be standing any place in the U.S. and if your location is registering, it will feed you meetings within five or 10 miles of where you are.
It also has an incredible navigational tool to show you, on the spot, what virtual meetings are happening, too. If you get on there at 6:15 pm or 5:45 a.m., you can find a meeting somewhere on Earth that you could click right into as you stand there holding your phone.
How lucky are we? Think about trying to get sober in 1945, or 1965, or even 2005, without the ability to have meetings at your fingertips. I try to remember as much as possible how good we have it as sober people in 2026. There are more meetings than ever, in more places than ever, probably with more sober people than ever, with more ways to get sober than ever and, in my humble opinion, less stigma around addiction than ever before.
Now contrast that with the generations before us, and what they went through to get a recovery community on solid ground and break some of the stereotypes about the worth of someone with addiction issues. Lots and lots of alcoholics and addicts walked so that we could run. I can’t imagine informing your work colleagues in 1950 or even 1990 that you have an alcohol or drug problem and need time off to go get treatment. I’m 100 percent sure some workplaces were very kind and accommodating, but I’m also 100 percent sure that some workplaces were not. Compare that with now, when I think the societal and legal norms allow for so many of us to seek treatment and recovery without the same kind of repercussions that our alcoholic ancestors faced.
And now, in 2026, a guide to finding a sober community is right there on your phone, updating constantly for real-time information about meetings. What a gift.
Thanks for letting me share, and I will be standing behind you now, until you download the Meeting Finder app!
This newsletter is a place of joy and laughter about the deadly serious business of sobriety. So, as I will often do, let me close with a joke:
HEARD AT MEETINGS: “A meeting is like an orgy. When it’s over, you feel better, but you’re not sure who to thank.”
(Credit: AA Grapevine, December 2002, Roger D. from League City, Texas)
Please spread the word to a sober friend! Find me on Substack… or Twitter… or Facebook… or Instagram… or YouTube. And introducing my web site, LOLsober.com.
