Step One

(We admitted we were powerless over alcohol/addiction-that our lives had become unmanageable.)

My understanding of this step as well as the others is pretty simple,"stay away from the first drink/drug". I can accomplish nothing if I don't stay away from the first one, I can never safely drink or use drugs...period. That's what all those years of hell taught me, I give up, I will not test to see if I can have a drink....I can't.

Total abstinance is what this step means, no games, no playing around with any kind of mind altering substance. As I said in an earlier post, I always tried to stay away from the 3rd or 4rth or 20th drink or drug. The reality is that as soon as I take the first one I am done, I can't stop and to truly have step one down I had to come to this realization....that's step one in a nutshell for me.

Very few new people in the program get this at first, it's a simple step but difficult, everyone thinks they're the exception and tries again and falls on their face again, there's no way past this step but I see people try to get by it over and over again.

If you don't get this one down cold, nothing else will work.