Ironfire

Hey folks just wanted to share my experience with step one and that is all I believe step one is.... an experience. When i first got around AA i was told that i had to work step one for the first year. Now saying that i also have to tell you that I am not the type of guy that just doesn't Not drink and go to meetings well. What I mean by that is I was never able to be comfortable in my own skin long enough to be able to follow that direction. I was the type of guy you all see in the meetings that was always picking up a 24 hour chip and seemed he would head right back out that same night. Even when i swore i wouldnt touch it again. You could have hooked me up to a lie detector and i could have passed it with flying colors. Its seemed any type of guarding myself or defense i would muster would quickly be pushed aside by the thought of getting loaded. Without the alcohol I would be anxious, depressed, suicidal, homicidal, and totally frozen by fear. No wonder the drink looked like a good idea.. no matter what consequence was followed right behind it. I couldnt stop under my own will power unless I was psychically put somewhere, usually not voluntarily. After i was abstinate I would never know when i was going to get loaded again... I just knew in my heart of hearts it would happen again and there was nothing i was gonna be able to do to stop it.

Now knowing i was powerless over the substance was no problem as you can clearly see there. I just had an incredible delusion that some how some way I was going to be able to fix the problem with human resources. Anotherwards i could still manage my life. I tried all different ways to not have to turn to a spiritual way of life. Including many rehabs,detoxes,mental institutions, medications, therapy, counseling, new girlfriends, old girlfriends, family members, new jobs, and the list could probaly be filled add infinitum. I was trying to arrange my life so that i would be happy and full in the inside. I failed miserably over and over. Even my AA sponsor could not fix me, He was a wonderful guide but he did not have the power to fix what was wrong with me. It wasn't until i admitted to my most inner self that i could not live life successfully on my own power did I even consider looking to a HP to help me.
After making that admission I was finally able to follow simple directions from a man that had walked the path of recovery before me and showed me the way out of that hell on earth. I truly believe that there isnt much to "working" a first step, Either you've had the experience or you haven't. If you have had a similar experience then the rest of the steps should be a breeze, They were for me and countless others. If you haven't then maybe i could give you some practical advise from my own experience. Go try every single idea you have to fix yourself and to manage your own life. exhaust every single idea till you cant take it anymore. That is my first step experience.

Rob B

Thanks Ironfire,
Yes, the step a year club, great advice to give a drunk if you want them to die. I wonder what our history would be if Bill said to Bob in 1935, I'll be back in 12 years to help you. The steps are meant to be worked immediately, this is not an opinion, this is what the book says.

nandm

Rob speaks from experience and offers some good advice. In the Big Book it talks about people working their third step on the third day of being sober. The steps are the key to removing the obsession and teaching us how to live without the insanity when we quit drinking. To delay them is not what the Big Book says to do. Although they are people who believe that is the way to do it. I tend to watch those that have a quality sobriety and my experience has been those that worked through the steps promptly and continue to apply them in their lives are the people that tend to have the quality of sobriety I want to have.

Ironfire

I hope i did not misle anybody by making them believe that i did a step a year, quite contrary to the fact. I could never hold on that long. lol I was brought through at a very rapid pace after having my first step experience. It wasnt until I had that experience was I able to give myself completely to this simple program. Why else would i go to a HP or take direction from another man unless i was totally emptied of my own ideas.

nandm

Thank you for the clarification. I was worried about someone getting the impression that a step a year is a positive thing for their sobriety. I do appreciate your post and it makes much more sense now. Thanks

Signal30

There really isn't any real rules of how quickly you work the steps. Just that you work them as honestly, thoroughly, and with as much willingness as possible. That step a year thing sounds like the ideas of a few members rather then the program of AA.

The time it takes me to work the steps is the time God decided I needed to take. If I ever decide to work, skip, half a$$ any of them , that's not Gods decision that's mine. And from experience I already know what happens when I try to work the program my way.

The BB can seperate what the right way is and the ways of other people that think there way is better. You can find the people in the fellowship that do the steps the right way by their actions.


Tom

ian_g

I suggest looking at Appendix II in the BB (567). It says, "What often takes place in a few moths could seldom have been accomplished by years of self-discipline."

Thus that personality change should be accomplished in a few months. How long is a few, well it is at least 3 that is clear. I found this too be a significant part of the whole issue of how long someone should be working their steps for. It is quite often looked over but it says it right there in black and white. Good to hear you experience Iron and you are right, the Big Book makes it clear that there is no writing that needs to take place for Step 1. It is an admission and the Big Book makes this clear in describing the alcoholic and how he is powerless and his life is unmanageable. Good post keep us up-to-date.