The 12 Steps of Recovery

When my kids and I first came to Al-Anon and Alateen group, we were silent during the meetings. But it didn't take long for us to discover how much we had in common with those around use. We learned some of the slogans, the kids played the "Happy/Crappy" game, and all in all we felt great for that one hour a week. It became like a ritual for us to drive 45 minutes to the meeting and back. No one griped that it was a Tuesday night (school night) and that we had to wolf down dinner in a matter of seconds so we could be on time. We had found a group of people that understood what we were going through. I didn't realize until much later that a lot of alcoholics also attend those Al-Anon meetings. Some call themselves "double winners," meaning that they are a recovering alcoholic whose spouse, child, parent, or friend is an alcoholic. They were often the most positive about recovery because they were experiencing it themselves.

The core of BOTH Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon/Alateen are the 12 Steps. Again, I didn't realize until a few months into the recovery process these groups share basically the same 12 steps. Makes sense. The goal of both groups is to recover—either from alcoholism or the behavior that contributes to alcoholism. In case you are curious, here are the 12 Steps:

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 others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Spread your wings!