Hey Jake... honestly, I try not to talk too much about steps or the Big Book outside the 12-Step Forum. There are lots of ppl here on SR who don't use AA and I've seen too many discussions outside the 12-step area go pretty sideways pretty quickly.
I'd really reeeally recommend you copy/paste that post down there:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-step-support/
I'll tell you this...... EVERYone has problems with the steps when they get to AA. Just take a step back for a second and consider this: If everything in the program made sense to you it would probably be because you're doing that stuff or have done it. The reality is, most of us haven't done anything all that close to the 12 steps in our lives (I know I sure hadn't). Sure, there will be familiar parts here and there but that's about it.
Step 1 is the toughest of them all to "get" - IN MY OPINION.
You're correct.....it's meant to defeat self-help. If self help worked for everyone, there would be no need for AA.
Again, IN MY OPINION, comments like
"You can do this! Don't give up, just carry on, quit drinking forever"
can be quite
damaging. The analogy I like to use is it's like telling someone who can't swim but is drowning in a lake the same advice.....for that person, the advice is useless. It feels good to say and hear those things and it's considered "good advice" by most ppl.........but it's not necessarily, know what I mean?
I see a lot of other things I'd comment on but again,
I refrain from doing that in the newcomers section. Feel free to pm me or check out that link to the 12-step forum if you'd like.
--there are some VERY knowledgeable "AA folks" here on SR. People who've successfully implemented the steps for years and decades, folks who've dissected and torn through each and every word of the whole Big Book (we alkies can be a tad anal retentive!), and folks who have some knowledge and wisdom I'm sure will be beneficial to you.
And just to mess with you.....LOL......AA's full of stuff that seems backwards such as: If alcohol is you're problem, you're not the type of alcoholic who needs AA. For a chronic alcoholic like myself, alcohol wasn't and isn't my problem......it "looked" like it was to everyone around me, but it wasn't. If you have an ALCOHOL PROBLEM, that advice above is great (don't drink, u can do it, etc). If you're an alkie like I am, not drinking baaaarely begins to touch on a solution.
Mike