To Admit Together

The first step of every twelve-step recovery program is the hardest, and the most important.

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

The first step of every recovery program is the hardest and most important because everything is built on what came before. Skipping steps doesn’t work.

Those at the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous, eighty-eight years ago, who figured out how people can recover from the life-destroying disease of alcoholism and be able to reenter society as functioning participants, wrote the twelve steps from the first-person plural perspective. In fact it would not surprise me if they believed the first word in the first step was the most important word of them all.

WE

The next word is likely the most difficult.

Admitted

Most defense attorneys will advise their clients never to admit anything. If, however, we are seeking to restore sanity and live peaceful productive lives, it should make sense to listen and follow the advice of those who have gone before us and been successful.

Every recovery meeting works when those who attend agree to listen and abide by the rules of that particular meeting. These are generally read outloud at the start. To newcomers it may seem like a waste of time but this is what enables the critical bond of fellowship needed to have healthy sharing.

It is always a choice of each participant to not agree with the rules and leave or agree and stay.

Every day is a choice, an opportunity to cooperate or go our own way. However, good mental health always comes within community. We need us.

And it’s always just one day at a time.

Step One

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

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So you are not an alcoholic, drug addict, or being affected by one. What might you take away from this first step?

Recovery can never begin before there is a personal admission of a problem.

Pride, looked at in this light, is a common coverup for an unhealthy, even self-destructive lifestyle.