CactusJill

I am really curious about this. I am just back into recovery (23 days today) and i don't have a sponsor yet, but I am getting one next week.

Anyway, when when I had 3 1/2 years under my belt and I had a sponsor, I was never sure if I was working the steps right, or thoroughly enough.

How did you know when you were done with a step? How do you know you have "worked' a step enough?

tomsteve

welp, working is what i did the 1st time through. then i started " practicing the principles in all my afairs." which tells me i am never done, unless i want to drink again.
there is no set right way to work the steps and practice the principles of each step.

i will know i have worked the steps enough when i die sober.

one of the hardest lessons for me to learn is just how simple the program of AA really is.



and why on earth are you risking your sobriety by waiting til next week to get a sponsor?
you read in how it works," if you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it..." PLEASE go to any lengths and pick up the phone and call them number ya got. ya got numbers, right??

CactusJill

Tomsteve-

Nope, not currently calling anyone. Among other things, I am an extremely private person and I have generalized and social anxiety. I offer that by way of explanation, not an excuse. I know there is no excuse!

I am waiting until next week because my therapist suggested that I find a sponsor at a particular meeting where he knew a lot of the people there.

But you are right, I need to get numbers.

Sheryl85

The main reason I first worked the Steps was to not drink. The reason I continue to work the Steps is to not drink and be happy about it. That means contented sobriety.

I know today that working the Steps is a life time undertaking. As an example, only Step One “can be practiced with absolute perfection” on a daily basis. That means I will know if I'm working it enough if I don't drink that day. But not all of them are done that simply. The litmus test is Contented Sobriety. If you have it, you are on the right track. Another observation I can share is if you find you are having difficulty with one Step, back up one and see if you are solid on the previous one. Steps ten, eleven and twelve are the maintenance Steps and just like regular maintenance on my car, I do those daily to insure that my life and program runs as smoothly as possible.

By the way, TomSteve has a point...get a sponsor as soon as you can to help you navigate through the Steps. Although you do the work, he (or she) can be your guide. I also suggest attending a Step study if one is available in your area. It can provide helpful suggestions for working the Steps successfully.

Good luck and let us know how things are going.

Sapling

I look at it like...Step one you admit something...Step two you come to believe something...Step three you decide something...The first step you are asked to actually do anything is step four. The way you work step three...Is by working steps four through nine. Get a sponsor. Get honest...And try and have some fun with it. It's life changing.

SteppingItUp

Hi Jill, congrats on your 23 days.

I thought I had the same life-stifling problems and took more doctor prescribed drugs to try to manage the symptoms. I couldn't understand how I had turned from a socialite to a fear-driven isolator. It also hadn't occurred to me that in my case the medication I was taking was actually helping to keep me sick. It turns out that the real underlying problem was actually untreated alcoholism (and addiction, in my case). When I treated the alcoholism, those issues (and many more, including what I thought was a decade of chronic insomnia) basically left me automatically.

The only way to know that you're doing *the* steps of Alcoholics Anonymous rather than Joe, Jane or Sally's "interpretation, version or opinion of the program" is to work them straight out of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. I've never seen anything work better - and it works, it really does. The Big Book has saved my life. Find a sponsor that can take you directly through the BB steps.

I see you're in Texas. Want to know how to find some qualified alcoholics that will help you do that? Contact this group and have them tell you what they suggest in your area. These are amazing people who know exactly what it takes to recover from alcoholism for life, and they're living in the solution (rather than the problem):

http://www.ppgaadallas.org/

When you've worked the steps out of the Big Book, you will never have to ask yourself if you've done them or not - you'll know. The same goes for having a spiritual experience sufficient to recover from alcoholism. If you've had it, you'll never have to ask if you've had that spiritual experience - you'll know!

Seek and find the freedom! It's all such a gift.

Big hugs and all my very best wishes to you on your journey.

Zencat

I have worked the steps and having a step quid helped me cur through the BB and get right too to being recovered from alcoholism.

Heres what worked,Now from the mystical POV of AA just follow along with the correct path. Warning do not drift from the correct path unless indicated then its all good. New path better than the old.



I remember when I suspended all belief, It was my first introduction in AA, I was a Christan at the time, A doubtful Christan that lost much my faith...but I has a shadow of faith...a glimmer of faith in God held me fast for a longtime through the hell making of as a lost soul in addiction...a reached spiritual longing God loving child of faith.

I abandoned my Christian faith to the 'spiritual not religious' practice of AA.

After I came out of the hospital after my third suicide attempt, I quit AA.

AA works for millions and millions. Bless those that it dose, be dammed to hell that it worked for me, whats left of me afterwards. Ahaaa but oh well, not ont thing works for everybody...I say that...its true...just to look deeply at the deformed ones, the sodden, flipped sideways ones..You guys are the big boys on the block, many get churned funny.ists easy to miss them. You guys are the best.

Boleo

Working the steps is the same as "practice these principles in all our affairs".

I know when I am working the steps when I experience the promises. The promises are the result of working the steps. The promises are found in more than just the ninth step.

wow04

After I worked the steps, I had to start living them.

You work the steps to the best of your ability and be honest. I had one sponsee that worked the steps to the best of her ability. After about a year she came back and said she left something out of her 4th step. It creeped up after a year sober. We went over it.

Get a sponser and get busy working the steps, then live them.

RobbyRobot

Working the AA steps is doing as they say to do, without re-wording, or otherwise personally shaping them to mean whatever else.

The understanding for working the steps, as originally given, can be found in the AA Big Book. Follow what is written. Seek guidance from a sponsor and from others who already do what you are now trying to accomplish.

Also, working the steps means getting things done. And for the AA program, that means getting done enough to become recovered.

BadCompany

When you die sober.

sugarbear1

The steps become a design for living, it's not a destination, it's a journey of consistent discovery.

CactusJill

Thanks for the responses, everyone. This clarifies it a lot.

Tommyh

Many years ago one of the leading contributors to this book came under our care in this hospital and while here he acquired some ideas which he put into practical application at once. ( from the dr`s opinion,1st edition)
simple,I live the directions provided in the book.

Terid

I think that's a great question because it does feel a bit confusing when everyone says "Just work the steps" and you don't have a clue how to do that.

miamifella

I think the word "work" is confusing. It confused me. I thought there was some activity I should be doing when I was going through the steps. Then I heard someone say that the first steps are more an active meditation. There is nothing to "do" because they describe an internal process. The external process happens in later steps.

(Of course I never got far, but that is another story.)

CarolD

Terid...Welcome...

We do have another forum dedicated to the Friends & Family of Alcoholics

To find it please check out this link...

Friends and Family of Alcoholics - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

yeahgr8

I got a sponsor who had worked the steps himself and he took me through the steps as quickly as possible and to the best of my ability.

The steps are on most AA wall, get a sponsor and work through them from 1-12...

The whole point of working through them is that once you have gotten part way through step 9 your perception changes, along with a whole bunch of other stuff. This change is a brand new start as a brand new person, if the steps have been worked correctly.

Then life becomes an adventure and one that has limitless possibilities, anyway your sponsor will show you how to do all this, like i said make sure they have worked the steps themselves and have a sobriety you want, e.g. don't have to be ring their own sponsor to see if they should take a pee in a bar or not for fear of drinking;-)

Good luck, hope you do things different this time!

muvinon

There are promises if I've worked the steps thoroughly. I watched them come true in my life, and I knew.....they unfolded exactly as described.

That's how I knew.

paulokes

When we are "working these steps" and "having the promises come true in our lives" we have to think about it and tell people about it.

When we are practising these principles in all our affairs, it's something that people see.

The idea that I was supposed to CARRY this message, not quote it used to terrify me.