“Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” The step that separates the sober man from the hopeless drunk… Having hit my absolute bottom after relapsing for the umpteenth time in early 2002, I finally sobered up for good in a tiny desert town with the priceless help of a […]

“Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” My father was a great believer in the Socratic maxim that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” He was convinced that the quest for genuine self-knowledge, though it often reveals unpleasant truths, is still the only workable foundation for a valuable life. I never asked him […]

“Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” Step Eleven is, hands down, my favorite step. But it certainly has not always been that way! My sobriety date is April 12, 2009. As of this writing, […]

“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” One of my favorite quotes from Chapter 7 in the Big Book is, “practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics” (pg. […]

“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.” My name is Robert and I am an alcoholic. Step one is the admission of complete defeat to this disease, which has been a challenge for most of us, as I know it was for me. I went through 8 or 9 30-day relapses and eventually stayed sober […]

“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” What if, at this present time, you still don’t believe in the “powerless” concept, or you can’t as yet accept the fatality of your illness? Yes, you can still feel and see the repercussions of your latest debauch, and you’re basically aware of your present location […]