Need Help Completing Step One

[soberkeith]

Hello, I am a 22 year old male with an alcohol/cocaine addiction. I have been in A.A. since December 5, 2007. I attend meetings fairly often but cannot seem to stay sober "one day at a time", so I need help understanding the first step in recovery before I can comprehend the next Eleven(11). I am feeling hopeless and in despair. I want to quit but I absolutely cannot by myself. I have been working very hard on Step One(1), but I want to make darn sure that I am in the right direction before proceeding with a sponsor on Step Two(2). I believe Step One(1) is not regularily discussed at meetings enough. I would like to thank you in advance for posting on this thread!.

[Gmoney]

Hi Soberkieth,

Welcome to SR. I hear you say you've been attending AA meetings, and that's good. But since this is an NA forum and I'm an NA member, I'll share with you my ES&H the NA way.

I applaud your eagerness to get involved in step work, but NA teaches us that the first thing we must do is stop using. Addiction and withdrawal distort rational thought, so it's a good idea to first focus on staying clean. It is suggested that newcomers attend 90 meetings in 90 days to become familiar with the Fellowship, it's principles and to begin to put them into action. "We apply effort to our most obvious problems (using) and let go of the rest." - Basic Text, page 54 (Chapter: What Can I Do?)

Next it is suggested that we join a group. Going to meetings is fine, but IMO, just sitting in a meeting isn't the same as becoming involved in a group you can call your home group. Initially, sponsorship for newcomers is the responsibility of the group by getting them acquainted with what 12 step recovery is all about. A home group is a meeting where we're comfortable and allow it's members to know us and we know them. It's somewhere we can commit to being on a regular basis. It's part of changing playmates, playthings and playgrounds. Also, on the group level we're introduced to service. Many members will tell you that service helps them stay clean.

Getting a sponsor is very important. A sponsor is a guide through the 12 steps of NA. It's someone you can trust and rely on to help you with all the steps, including Step One. It isn't suggested that we work any steps alone.

Desire may qualify me for membership, but my story includes me seeking help from professionals prior to coming to the rooms of NA. If you can't stop, just for today, you may want to consider detox or rehab.

be blessed,
G

[CrisDavis]

Hello, I am a 22 year old male with an alcohol/cocaine addiction. I have been in A.A. since December 5, 2007. I attend meetings fairly often but cannot seem to stay sober "one day at a time", so I need help understanding the first step in recovery before I can comprehend the next Eleven(11). I am feeling hopeless and in despair. I want to quit but I absolutely cannot by myself. I have been working very hard on Step One(1), but I want to make darn sure that I am in the right direction before proceeding with a sponsor on Step Two(2). I believe Step One(1) is not regularily discussed at meetings enough. I would like to thank you in advance for posting on this thread!.

We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.

I can think of no other example of powerlessness over our addiction than wanting to NOT use, and using anyway. It is always our choice, minute by minute, hour by hour to hook up or not. I know that for me, step one seemed hard because of my own lack of committment to being clean. What I really wanted was the joy I used to have in the high. I wanted to WANT to be hign, instead of HAVING to be high. When I was finally sick and tired of being sick and tired, I found out that staying clean was just a matter of STAYING CLEAN. Getting sober, on the other hand, took work on my part, and the first step in that was seeking help from others who had already acheived what I wanted, not the ones that were dealing with what I had.

Don't use. No matter what. No matter the bone aching want, don't.use. Go to meetings. 90 in 90 days is a suggestion... you can go to 120. You can go to 240. You can go to rehab, or live at the meeting house. Talk to people. Everyone all the time. Don't use. There is nothing that can make it easier. There is nothing that can make it okay. It's what you have to do.

[Grateful Bill]

Soberkeith, hey, hard to give that stuff up, I did 35 years going at every form of self destruction I could find. I now have 8 clean and sober, I was blessed to find what "they all had and I wanted it too"!! The first step to me, I admitted I was powerless my life is unmanagable. One sentence, one thought. As I posted elsewhere, my life is unmanagable even clean and sober. When i even THINK i can manage, there it is, unmangability... I came to believe a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity eventually. I work the 1st every day, I have to. In the beginning, and at times today, i find it hard to bend a knee and demonstrate humility, I was you, I am you, I have just found that "higher Power", not the one in the bag, are you ready?? Hope so,, if you want it, I suggest bending that knee, asking and then find an NA meeting and start there, rmember, hinesty, openmindedness, and that willingness we love, if we are not willing, we will die..Hope this helps some,, keep coming back!!! It may be crazy, but I need these programs to live, simply live, so I had these steps that saved my life tattooed on my back, I hope another hopeless soul that is as I was sees them and takes that step to get help!!! Grateful Bill