Do you fall sick by choice? No. Sickness happens, either because we are careless of our health, or we caught a virus. Similarly, addiction is not by choice. It happens. A person might be careless in their use of alcohol in the beginning. Or maybe he or she was in bad company.
But that does not give you an excuse to stay addicted. You don’t stay sick, do you? You consult a doctor and seek treatment. In the same way, you must seek help for your addiction and not continue to drink just because you are addicted.
AA meetings in Vermont have helped thousands of men and women kick their alcohol addiction and become sober for life.
Acceptance opens the road to recovery
To become healthy again, you must accept you are sick. People who stay in denial of their health can never correct it.
Similarly, you must accept your addiction to recover from it. Accept that you have no control over your drinking habit. Accept that you cannot stop drinking despite wanting to.
Once you accept, you become humble. You are now open to change in life.
The first step of AA
Acceptance is the first step of AA. Your recovery begins with it. You cannot skip this step and go to the other step. It doesn’t work this way.
AA meeting starts with people accepting their powerlessness over addiction. They accept they need help. Alcoholics Anonymous encourages people to seek help from a Higher Power. But before doing this, you must surrender to the Power.
This is impossible with an ego.
So, in a way, AA helps you dissolve your ego and become humble. An egoistic attitude can be dangerous during recovery. Most of the time, it is our ego that leads us to the path of addiction. If we can simply drop this ego, we will be amazed as to how our life turns out to be!
The second step of AA
You can do the second step only when you successfully complete the first step, i.e., accepting your powerlessness and becoming humble enough to ask for help.
The second step is to turn towards a Higher Power to ask for help. Many people argue about AA being religious due to this step. But, the step has nothing to do with religion or even God. Even the 12 traditions of AA do not promote any religion.
The step simply states to put your trust in a power higher than you, something external. Even if you do not believe in God, you can do this step by turning towards somebody whom you believe can help you.
The core of the step is to seek help.
Conclusion
Nobody can be in AA with an ego and an attitude of denial. That’s why the first two steps are indispensable. They prepare you for recovery.
So, if you wish to quit drinking, but can’t, search for “AA meetings near me”. Attend the meetings and be amazed at how you get the power to say “no” to alcohol.
AA is not just accepting your powerlessness. It is also about finding your own power.