Came to believe...what?
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Came to believe...what?
Step two in AA is really about choosing our method of recovery. Step 1 recognises the problem, but step 2 could lead to almost any method of recovery. In fact step two could take you away from AA completely.
I sometimes think it should be "Finally came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"
I fought this idea right to the end. I came to believe in a number of other things however. We are often told of the multitude of ways we can get sober these days, and, though there weren't as many in my day, I tried everything I could find.
At various times I came to believe that:
a probation officer,
a counsellor,
the family doctor,
a geographical shift,
a change of jobs,
a girlfirend,
no girlfriend,
a psychologist,
an alcohol treatment centre,
a break from drinking to build myself up physically,
not drinking,
controlled drinking,
other substances
could restore me to sanity.
No doubt some of the things I tried and failed at,are successful for many others. But for me they did not work.
As an absolute last resort I finally came to believe that the same Power that worked for the people I met in my first few AA meetings, could work for me too. And it did.
I sometimes think it should be "Finally came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"
I fought this idea right to the end. I came to believe in a number of other things however. We are often told of the multitude of ways we can get sober these days, and, though there weren't as many in my day, I tried everything I could find.
At various times I came to believe that:
a probation officer,
a counsellor,
the family doctor,
a geographical shift,
a change of jobs,
a girlfirend,
no girlfriend,
a psychologist,
an alcohol treatment centre,
a break from drinking to build myself up physically,
not drinking,
controlled drinking,
other substances
could restore me to sanity.
No doubt some of the things I tried and failed at,are successful for many others. But for me they did not work.
As an absolute last resort I finally came to believe that the same Power that worked for the people I met in my first few AA meetings, could work for me too. And it did.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: NC
Posts: 1,737
When I was new to the program I did not see any need to be restored to sanity. I honestly believed my problem and its manifestations were strictly related to drinking too much... and therefore I only needed was to stop drinking and my regularly scheduled life would resume and I would live happily ever after.
It took a couple of months of no happily ever after for me to reconsider the sanity issue. It was then that I began to truly work the steps with a sponsor, and slowly but surely the pieces began to fall into place and my life started to change.
To those new in the program, or for whom the whole God thing makes AA a non-starter, I totally understand how the "power greater than myself" thing might make this sound a bit like asking the great pumpkin to save your @ss from all the problems alcohol has created in your life. My experience is that it is not a requirement to believe in any particular deity, or even a god at all. You simply need to accept that somehow the people in the rooms you meet were just like you at one point in their lives, and that somehow they not only quit drinking, but their lives were transformed.
I read the following paragraph very early in my sobriety. It sounded ridiculously optimistic, yet in the four years since I began my journey, I know this to be true:
It took a couple of months of no happily ever after for me to reconsider the sanity issue. It was then that I began to truly work the steps with a sponsor, and slowly but surely the pieces began to fall into place and my life started to change.
To those new in the program, or for whom the whole God thing makes AA a non-starter, I totally understand how the "power greater than myself" thing might make this sound a bit like asking the great pumpkin to save your @ss from all the problems alcohol has created in your life. My experience is that it is not a requirement to believe in any particular deity, or even a god at all. You simply need to accept that somehow the people in the rooms you meet were just like you at one point in their lives, and that somehow they not only quit drinking, but their lives were transformed.
I read the following paragraph very early in my sobriety. It sounded ridiculously optimistic, yet in the four years since I began my journey, I know this to be true:
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
If you are in the least bit interested, what exactly do you have to lose in suspending disbelief for a week or a month to see if there is anything here of value?
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
I thought of sanity as meaning health, restore me to health.
But the step does not require me to to believe in any particular God, it merely asks if I am willing to believe in the possibility, however remote, that some sort of power, greater than me obviously, could restore me to health.
To put it another way, am I willing to believe a spiritual approach might give me the answers I seek?
If I answer in the affirmative, then a spiritual program of recovery is my choice and I am on my way.
If I answer in the negative, then AA is not for me and I need to look for something else.
If I can't find anything else I can always revisit the question. Perhaps my level of willingness will have changed in the meantime.
But the step does not require me to to believe in any particular God, it merely asks if I am willing to believe in the possibility, however remote, that some sort of power, greater than me obviously, could restore me to health.
To put it another way, am I willing to believe a spiritual approach might give me the answers I seek?
If I answer in the affirmative, then a spiritual program of recovery is my choice and I am on my way.
If I answer in the negative, then AA is not for me and I need to look for something else.
If I can't find anything else I can always revisit the question. Perhaps my level of willingness will have changed in the meantime.
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