Alcoholics Anonymous believes that admitting you can’t control your alcohol use is a necessary first step on the path to recovery. To admit powerlessness over alcohol (or drugs) means accepting the fact that powerless over alcohol you’ve lost control over your substance use. You accept that your life now largely revolves around maintaining your addiction and your addiction is now the driving force behind all your thoughts and actions.
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. If you are living with a loved one’s drinking, it can be difficult to admit you are powerless and unable to keep cleaning up the mess and being the responsible one. You may continue to make things work and, therefore, be part of the sickness. Only after admitting you are powerless can you begin to make changes in yourself. From step one, you can continue to the rest of the 12 steps and 12 traditions.
What Is Step 1 of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)?
Those who are trying to get sober sometimes feel ashamed if they slip up and have a drink. But keeping your mistakes to yourself only makes it appear like you are in control when you’re not. According to Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (1981), “Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built” (p. 21). Are you ready to achieve liberation and strength over your destructive drinking habits? If so, you must admit defeat, become powerless, and embrace Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) guiding principles, starting with Step 1 of AA.
- How does AA Step 1 help you continue with the remaining steps?
- We let this Power do what we are unable to do for ourselves.
- The concept behind the references to God or a higher power in the 12-step program is to support addicts in the understanding that they need to find a source of strength that’s greater than themselves alone.
- No one makes the conscious choice to lose control and wreck their lives.
Learn more about AA, and how its famous 12 Steps—especially Step 1—can set you on the path to recovery. 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).
Here’s what author and interventionist Jeff Jay has to say about Step One and being powerless:
By admitting to at least one other person that you’re having a hard time with your sobriety in Step 1 of AA, you acknowledge that you are having difficulty maintaining control in regards to alcohol. You might not be ready the first time you decide to attend a meeting. You may leave early or continue to deny that you have a problem—relapse rates for substance abuse tend to be quite high, and it can take many tries before you’re finally able to quit. But you may return at a later date when you are ready to take the first step and admit you are powerless over alcohol. After many years of denial, recovery can begin for individuals struggling with alcohol and their families with one simple admission of being powerless over alcohol. This is the first step of the 12 step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon programs, which have been attended by millions of people over the last several decades.
- 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.
- AA is a recovery program for multiracial men and women who are suffering from an alcohol use disorder.
- In my mid-30s, I encountered a traumatic event, the emotional dam broke, and all the feelings I’d stuffed for decades flooded out.
- However, even though I had all these terrible things going on, I continued to drink thinking it’s not that bad or it would get better.
- Then, you’re ready to believe you can manage your AUD with help from outside sources.
The dictionary defines powerless as being without the power to do something or prevent something from happening. Let’s think about this definition as it relates to alcoholism/addiction. Spero Recovery Center is a peer-based residential recovery program.
My Loved One Needs Help
However, some problems can escalate beyond our control. If you’ve struggled with alcohol addiction for years, you’ve likely made many excuses to work around your disorder. You have lived in denial, believing you can stop using alcohol at any time.
Because the journey to sobriety is full of forward steps and backward ones, it may be necessary for some people to return to this step multiple times. The path to recovery is rarely a straight line, but a series of twists and turns. You may be powerless over the effects of substance abuse, but choosing to be better every day is where that power returns. You admit you have a problem and begin to seek out assistance. It isn’t easy, but admitting powerlessness allows you to break the cycle of addiction that you’ve been stuck in.
How Can I Get Help With the First Step of Alcoholics Anonymous?
Because it all begins with Step 1 of AA, it’s very important to understand why you can’t skip this step, even though it doesn’t require specific physical actions. Step 1 of AA references the need for members to hit rock bottom before genuinely understanding their addiction. Your rock bottom is whatever makes you realize alcohol is destructive to you and your loved ones. Rock bottom gives you the motivation to open your mind to recovery. Other 12-step programs include Al-Anon, Gamblers Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, and others.
Step One is just asking a person to acknowledge that they have the disease of addiction, and life is harder because of it. “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Admitting powerlessness in sobriety can empower you to get the help and support you need to manage your life.