What Is Powerlessness? Step One of the 12-Steps of AA

Ambrosia was founded in 2007 with a mission to provide truly individualized substance abuse treatment to every person who enters one of our programs. For those currently struggling with addiction, know that you are not alone. Crippling addiction can be overcome, and there is hope for a fulfilling life beyond the grip of substance dependence. It may seem impossible now, but countless individuals have walked this path before you and found their way to recovery.

What Does AA Mean By Powerlessness?

Admitting powerlessness in sobriety can empower you to get the help and support you need to manage your life. Ambrosia Treatment Center of South Florida is here to help those who struggle with addiction. In the long term, maintaining abstinence from alcohol and drugs requires a lot of effort. The most effective way to stay sober is by using the tools of recovery.

What is AA?

When a person admits that alcohol is affecting his or her life, they can start recovery. The first step is about powerlessness over behavior that makes the individual’s life unmanageable. The impact of drugs and alcohol on your body over time renders your natural brain functions and mechanisms powerless. To acknowledge the way these substances have impacted your life is to admit that alcohol and drugs have made your life unmanageable and you can’t fix it on your own. This step is not saying you are powerless over your actions, decisions, or relationships with others; only over your addiction to alcohol or drugs.

Need Help With Alcohol Abuse? We’re Here for You

You have the phenomenon of craving, or, if you will, a powerlessness over alcohol. Your plans are subject to change once alcohol joins the party. At The Kimberly Center, we know that acknowledging powerlessness isn’t easy, but we want to help simplify the recovery process. Call us now at KCENTER so that we can help you tackle the first steps of your recovery.

Admitting powerlessness is essentially waving the white flag and recognizing that you cannot try to drink anymore. History has proven that you have no control once a drop of alcohol enters your body. If you can grasp this knowledge, you will become a recovering, strong person. Recovery is about accepting that alcohol does not add to your life.

A person no longer must hit “rock bottom” to be able to engage in recovery. They can step out of the process at any stage by simply acknowledging they need help, even when they don’t exactly see all the places that this help is needed. Psychological factors, such as trauma, stress, or mental health issues, can create fertile ground for addiction to take root. Many people turn to substances or addictive behaviors as a way to cope with emotional pain or numb uncomfortable feelings. It’s like using a Band-Aid to cover a gaping wound – it might provide temporary relief, but it doesn’t address the underlying issue. Powerlessness is often mistaken for weakness, but this is actually a step of strength.

1. This might include family, friends, support group members, or others who understand and support your journey to recovery.
2. Few people intend to destroy their lives and relationships by drinking or doing drugs, but that is what can happen with addiction.
3. A person shouldn’t consider themselves weak-willed or incapable when they admit to their powerlessness, and they don’t have to do anything about their addiction yet.
4. It’s so easy to blame other people for our problems, but recovery requires us to take personal responsibility, and that’s exactly what Alcoholics Anonymous teaches.

It’s not a guarantee, but it’s like starting a race with a weight on your back – you’re at a disadvantage from the get-go. I’d been involved in the sober community on and off for years. Yet I’d never heard someone with 20+ years summarize powerlessness so elegantly.

Only after admitting you are powerless can you begin to make changes in yourself. From step one, you can continue to the rest of the 12 steps and 12 traditions. “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.”

Reach out for help and support from others who have been through what you are going through. These people can offer understanding and encouragement as you take steps to improve your life. Our nationally accredited substance abuse detoxification & treatment center is one of the most highly respected programs in the country. Acknowledging your powerlessness is liberating because it helps you alcohol storage ideas realize the things you are powerless over so you can devote your energy to your actions–the things you can control. You may be powerless over addiction, but you aren’t powerless, period.