Step 1 of Alcoholics Anonymous AA

Addressed those challenges by explaining that every member was welcome to interpret God to mean whatever higher power they chose to believe in while working the steps. Reach out to us here at Renascent to lend a helping hand or for more information about our programs and services. According to Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (1981), “Few indeed were those who, so assailed, had ever won through in singlehanded combat. It was a statistical fact that alcoholics rarely recovered on their own resources” (p. 22). Powerlessness means that you are thoroughly convinced that if you put alcohol in your body, disaster will follow.

Addicts rationalize their behavior or engage in substantial denial that a problem even exists. Rationalization, denial, and other defense mechanisms provide a smokescreen to obscure the truth that is in plain view. I know you don’t believe what I am saying, but trust me when I say if my life then was better than my life now, I would still be drinking! But we are getting off track, step one actually has two different parts that I needed to realize. I was sitting on the steps of the halfway house I attended for more than five months with my sponsor when I decided to jump into the steps. “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.”

Step One: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.” (Big Book, Page

You may view alcoholism as a weakness of your character or will, but this view may hinder your ability to accept you have an alcohol use disorder. Your alcohol addiction is a physical compulsion beyond your control—a progressive illness that defies common sense. There’s not a simple pill you can take to cure this disease. Instead, the treatment available focuses on helping you manage your condition, so you can achieve sobriety and resist relapse to alcohol abuse. To drive this analogy home, let’s further assume that as the waters recede from the earth and dry land reappears, our flood survivors become determined to rebuild on the same spot.

• This will not be possible unless you come to the recovery process totally committed to change things.
• Worldwide, alcoholics, addicts and treatment professionals embraced the Twelve Steps, and more than 35 million copies of AA’s Big Book have been distributed in over 70 languages.
• There are also many secular programs that may help you achieve or maintain recovery.
• You have to radically change your behavior, not simply cut substance abuse out of your life, but develop radically new coping strategies.
• In many respects, being able to fully grasp the First Step is the best defense against relapse, because it clearly reminds the addict of what we are inviting back into their lives if they choose to use again.

You must first adopt attitudes and actions of being honest and sacrificing your time and energy to help yourself and other sufferers. You may tried to do so much hard work building up your willpower in your efforts at self-improvement. powerless over alcohol examples You may have tried to control your behavior under the influence, or cut back on use to a level that feels more reasonable. Yet the addiction remains, as do the underlying tensions and issues that alcohol or drugs are masking.

Exploring the Connection Between Bipolar and Addiction

Surrendering in these surface battles really means letting go and focusing instead on the larger root causes, taking a break to pursue your own inner healing. As we abandoned responsibilities, our problems began to mount. Ashamed to admit failure, we began hiding our use from the same people who tried to help us, and then we pushed them away. We started doing things to support our habits that we never would have dreamed of doing before, sometimes taking risks with our health or crossing the law. We lost jobs, homes, and businesses, not to mention our self-respect.

By seeking help for alcohol addiction, you admit that you’re powerless to stop drinking on your own. Your counselor can help you learn strategies to stop drinking and can be one of the people you reach out to when you are struggling. Our only viable course of action was to recognize our powerlessness for what it was. Acknowledging it doesn’t relegate us to living a life imprisoned in fear, shame, or helplessness – in any context.