Ask questions and get as much information as you can about your options. The more you know about your treatment, the more control you will feel over your life. 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. Lot’s of people find that once they do Step One, that all manner of help appears! I feel grateful to have a program that expands as I grow.

The main criterion for a successful First Step is a person's acceptance that they do, indeed, have the disease of addiction. A person shouldn't consider themselves weak-willed or incapable when they admit to their powerlessness, and they don't have to do anything about their addiction yet. Step One is just asking a person to acknowledge that they have the disease of addiction, and life is harder because of it.

Step 1 of AA: Admitting You’re Powerless Over Alcohol

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. Your alcohol addiction is a physical compulsion beyond your control—a progressive illness that defies common sense. There’s not a simple pill you can take to cure this disease. Instead, the treatment available focuses on helping you manage your condition, so you can achieve sobriety and resist relapse to alcohol abuse. Most addicts are filled with guilt, shame, remorse, and self-loathing when they come into the rooms of AA. They’ve also gotten very used to keeping secrets from pretty much everyone, so opening up about the nature and extent of your alcoholic behavior is going against the grain.

• If something still feels absolutely unacceptable to you, the best thing I know to do is pray—not to get what you want, but to be able to accept what is.
• Perhaps you are familiar with the words of the Serenity Prayer, which is commonly recited at AA meetings.
• These include reducing isolation, providing a support system, and witnessing the healing of others.
• I will let consequences and responsibility fall where they belong.

We might be able to stave off our abuse from time to time, but we start drinking or using drugs again sooner than later. As the definition says, we lack the authority or capacity to stop. Understanding powerless, that I had no choice, changed my life. It wasn’t until I had a full understanding of this word that my spiritual journey really was able to begin. It also made me realize that I’m not a bad person or a weak person.

Things I’m Powerless Over

A person would be considered powerless over drugs when, even though they know the drugs are causing harm to them in every way, they continue to use the drugs anyway and they simply cannot stop. Most people who are still in active addiction don’t realize what they are feeling is powerlessness because they may still be in denial over their addiction. They may be blaming what they are feeling or going through on everything but their drug use or use the drugs to further “cope” with their feelings. A person with alcohol addiction is powerless over alcohol because his or her behavior changes in ways that would not happen when sober. The mental obsession and physical cravings increase after the first drink, causing the person to drink more. Admitting powerlessness means we can’t control our substance abuse.

When we think of powerlessness, most people think of the Twelve Step Program, which is an amazing healing program of recovery. Most of us do not come to the table with the desire to embrace this kind of powerlessness. For most of us, this is the kind of thing that is literally “beaten out of us”. When someone is struggling with addiction, they may feel like they have no control over their life. This sense of powerlessness can be a major factor in addiction.

Breaking Down the Language of Step One

Drinking, for me anyway, is/was a way of controling my world and blocking out or numbing myself to these outside things that I was/am actually powerless over. I think there's an invisible principle of living...if we believe we're guided through every step of our lives, we are. One thing I’ve realized about my own recovery process is that, after a bit of sobriety or what I may think is recovery, I think all is well. Getting and staying sober is the first step in the recovery process.

When you start your path in recovery, you’re likely to find that your life is a bit unmanageable. Please don’t feel the need to surrender when you begin; this is an ongoing process, and it might take time to cope with everything that’s happening. Practicing powerlessnessmeans we cease resistance, remove our defenses and take responsibility for ourselves. We move from focusing most of our time and attention on another person’s behavior, or outside circumstances and we quit trying to enforce the unenforceable. When that happens, we will experience a sense of freedom, find new energy and discover new possibilities.

Renewal Center for Ongoing Recovery

You might not be ready to take the first step at your first AA meeting, and that’s okay. It’s not easy to admit our inability resist alcohol or internal humiliation, but you’re not alone. If you want to reap powerless over alcohol the positive benefits of AA, you must accept your alcoholic abuse disorder and its consequences. Your sobriety will remain unpredictable, and you won’t find any enduring strength until you can admit defeat.

Powerlessness over addiction can be difficult to overcome, but it is possible with the right help and support. While these feelings can be overwhelming, it’s important to remember that they don’t have to define us. There are ways to cope with these emotions and even overcome them altogether. Today, we’ll explore how you can gain control over your addiction by learning how to identify your triggers and create a plan for recovery.

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded on this principle (the 12 steps require members to ask for help from both God and fellow alcoholics) . I have the power to engage in a program of recovery. But I am powerless over drugs and alcohol when I put them in my body. Once you accept step one, you do something about this https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-write-a-goodbye-letter-to-addiction/ feeling of powerlessness and gain back your power. Recovery is about gaining the insights, tools and skills so you feel empowered and able to understand and overcome your need for substances. We are not meant to go through this life alone and we need other people so we can be healthy, strong and independent.