Step One in the 12 x 12: a summary — Step One

No one likes to admit defeat
Also: hard to admit defeat, even in the face of evidence
What are we defeated by?
Two-fold nature of alcoholism ('double-edged sword')
- The mind is obsessed with drinking
  - 'The insane urge' (to have the first drink)
- Yet that drinking is destructive
  - 'Allergy' = 'sensitivity' = compulsion to continue (after the first drink)
The mind cannot fix itself
- Self-confidence is a liability
- Willpower is of no use when directed at the obsession
- [Though vital when directed at the programme]
The outcome, if the process is unchecked, is death
- 'Ultimately destroy ourselves in the process'
Something external must do so
The defeat is total
Admission of defeat is the prerequisite for recovery ('bedrock')
Sobriety impossible or precarious without it
Real happiness impossible without it
The steps ('attitudes and actions') are too hard otherwise
- Rigorous honesty and tolerance
- Confession
- Restitution
- Higher Power
- Meditation / prayer
- Sacrifice of time and energy
Alcoholics are self-centred: we will do this only for survival
If defeat is admitted:
- Lay hold of AA principles
- 'With all the fervour with which the drowning seize life preservers'
Promise: 'they almost invariably got well'
How to admit defeat when not all has been lost:
Required: admission of unmanageability
Recognise: losing control precedes the realisation thereof
Drinking (for us) is no mere habit
It is the beginning of a fatal progression
Prove this by trying controlled drinking
No need to wait for 'extreme difficulties'
Once we have admitted this
- The mind opens
- We are ready to do whatever is necessary
- ... to lift the merciless obsession