Both in and out of alcohol and drug rehab centers, recovering drug addicts and alcoholics of all ages credit the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous with their freedom from the slavery of addiction. When they finally ask for help, it’s not a surprise that millions of people have found the keys to a new life in the twelve steps. Alcoholism is a threefold disease: it is physical, mental and spiritual. The twelve steps are simple and yet address the mental and spiritual problems of alcoholism. The addressing of the physical problem begins with drug addiction detox. As we address the physical aspect of the disease of alcoholism, we can look to the twelve steps as a blueprint for our new lives. In many California alcohol rehab centers and others across the country, the twelve steps are at the center of a well-designed program of recovery.
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
- Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
- Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- 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.
- 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.
Maybe some of these steps sound frightening, impossible or maybe it just sounds like too much work. But the truth is, few things more challenging than maintaining an addiction. For some people, in the beginning, it’s impossible to even read them all the way through. That’s okay. You only have to do one thing at a time and the first thing to do is ask for help.