Fellowship 12

Alcoholics Anonymous Step 1.

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

In Bill’s Story, Page 8, Sentences 7-11, Bill W. describes the seemingly hopeless state of mind and body in which he found himself bringing him to admit his powerlessness over alcohol:

⁷No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. ⁸Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. ⁹I had met my match. ¹⁰I had been overwhelmed. ¹¹Alcohol was my master.

¹²Trembling, I stepped from the hospital a broken man. ¹³Fear sobered me for a bit. ¹⁴Then came the insidious insanity of that first drink, and on Armistice Day 1934, I was off again. …

8:9-11 Bill, by admitting, to himself, his powerlessness, takes his first step. Perhaps we feel as hopeless as Bill. Are we able to control our drinking once we start? Are we unable to quit drinking despite our sincere desire to do so? How have the things we have tried to overcome drinking worked for us? Can we admit that alcohol is more powerful than we are? If we can, then we have taken the first step toward recovery.

8:12-14 More is required to recover from alcoholism than the first step. The fear of the certain consequences of drinking may keep us sober for varying lengths of time. Many of us never want to forget how horrible the last days of our drinking were, but reliance on our memories to keep us sober rarely works for long. The proof of this is that we continue to drink long after we realize the damage drinking has caused in our lives and to our health.

8:14 The inability to stop based solely on our knowledge of the consequences is described many times in this book. The authors describe this as the insidious insanity of the first drink (24:3-9, 26:7-9, 40:2-41:23, 43:14-16, 154:17).

We invite you to join in this discussion by participating in the Alcoholics Anonymous Study Forum.