Acceptance..... what a journey I had with that.
After almost 5 years of a daily battle that I lost daily with King alcohol I finally surrendered to the fact that I was fighting a losing battle against alcohol, I accepted I had lost, I surrendered to alcohol and I quit fighting it and accepted that I would just drink... devil be damned!
It was not long after this that I had a moment of clarity and accepted the fact that I did not have a clue how to get sober, stay sober, and accepted that I was going to die a slow lonely death from my drinking if I did not find a way out of the hopeless state I was in.
Having accepted that MY WAY did not work I accepted that I needed HELP! I called a hotline and saw a doctor and told him the whole truth about my drinking and was at a point where what ever he suggested I would accept as what I needed to do. He suggested detox, I went.
In detox they kept telling us 90 AA meetings in 90 days and get a sponsor, I accepted thier suggestion and did just that.
In AA my sponsor & the old timers suggested that if I wanted long term sobriety I should take the steps with my sponsor......... well I kind of drug my feet a few months on that one and darn near relapsed........ I finally accepted that I needed to do the steps and did so with my sponsor.
Taking the steps involved an acceptance of many things:
1. I was indeed powerless over alcohol once I had that first drink and that my life became unmamnagable at that point.
2. I had to accept that I needed to come to believe that a power greater then I could restore my sanity.
3. I had to accept that I needed to turn my will and life over to the care of the Higher Power of my choosing and understanding.
I had a great deal of things to accept as I continued to take the steps.
I use the Serenity prayer a lot in determining what I need to accept, and what I need to change.
I have found in my recovery that there is a great deal of acceptance, but I have also found that acceptance can not be used to avoid ACTIONS I can and need to take.