Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and/or drugs and that our lives had become unmanageable.
The two requisites, in my opinion to recovery are the admission of our addiction and the acceptance of our addiction. It doesn’t matter what the addiction is, but we’ll stick with alcohol or other drugs. We must in fact find a way to somehow come to terms that we suffer from addiction. At the beginning stage we must not focus on the why. You can deal with that later. Just work on admission and acceptance right now.
In step 1 the word powerless is used. This means an unrestricted acceptance that we cannot behave in a normal manner while using alcohol and or other drugs. For many of us, we need to hit ‘rock bottom.’ When this happens there is typically a feeling of genuine and sincere humility – we are will to do anything to stop our addiction. Remember – Our powerlessness is over alcohol/drugs/addiction, not about anything else. And quite frankly, because of this powerlessness our lives are a mess.
That last paragraph might throw you just a bit, as you’ve probably heard in meetings that you are powerless over everything. I don’t agree with that, but I am not the only voice out there. If that works for you, great…it doesn’t work for me. I feel if I am powerless over everything I might feel that I am floating out there, bouncing off events as they happen to me. Personally, I like the notion I am in control of certain aspects of my life. Alcohol and other drugs, I cannot control. I’ve come to terms with it and I am in complete acceptance of that addiction.
In my opinion the 12 Step program was designed to help restore balance in our lives. Within that balance of course is how we see ourselves. Many of are pretty banged up when we hit rock bottom, and are views of outside and inside world are a bit wacky. The steps, if followed to the best of your ability help get those views back on track. The steps guide us into taking responsibility for past behaviors while also staying focused on the current behaviors and how to change them where necessary.
Step One works to help you let go of your addiction.
Recovery Rob BIO
Recovery Rob is a 48-year-old man who has more than twenty years of sobriety, whose drugs of choice at one time were alcohol and drugs, and he has worked in and around the field of addiction for more than 20 years. Having just recently launched his own website, www.askrecoveryrob.com, he hopes to reach out and continue to help others who work through their process of addiction and recovery. Recovery Rob is a professional writer who has published two novels and is currently working on his third. He has been writing and working as Pat Moore Foundation’s premiere blogger and content writer, which helps keeps Pat Moore Foundation’s addiction and recovery blog top-rated.