Step One: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable.
The Big Book introduces Step One to us from its very first pages. Dr. Silkworth, in "The Doctor's Opinion", talks about our loss of control once we take alcohol into our systems. Certainly he is referring to powerlessness there.
Bill W. describes his powerlessness over alcohol in brutal detail throughout Chapter One.
In Chapter Two, "There is a Solution", the "real alcoholic" is described as someone who "...begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink." Any rational person would recognize that loss of control is synonymous with powerlessness.
Chapter Three ("More About Alcoholism") tells a story of a 30-year old man who, after a horrendous battle with "spree" drinking, recognized that he could not drink and be successful in business at the same time. This man quit for 25 years and retired at the age of 55. Thinking that after 25 years of abstinence from alcohol he would now be able to drink in moderation, he began to drink again. We now know that even during long periods of sobriety, the disease of addiction continues to progress within us. The ability to quit drinking that this man had 25 years prior to his return to alcohol, had evaporated by the time he resumed his drinking. Once he started drinking again, he was right where he left off, only worse, in no time. He found that once he started drinking, he simply could not stop. He tried and tried again to quit, but he was powerless. He was dead within four years of his retirement from the disease of alcoholism.
The fourth chapter of the Big Book, "We Agnostics", continues to reinforce the concept of powerlessness but is directed to people who fight the idea that God can be employed to help us abstain.
Finally, in Chapter Five, the steps are introduced to us formally. The "Doctor's Opinion", along with the first four chapters, lead up to the conclusion that we must admit our powerlessness over alcohol and accept that we will need help to arrest our addiction to it (see page 59 of the Big Book).
After thoroughly digesting the Big Book up to Chapter Five, it was impossible for me to dispute my powerlessness over my addictions. But, to be truthful, I didn't need those chapters to help me recognize that I had no control over my addictions. And I still don't. I can see addictive behavior in many forms still disrupting my life against my will. I am powerless and always will be when it comes to addictions. The only solution for me is to readmit my powerlessness and follow the steps to recovery from whatever is plaguing my ability to "...trudge the Road of Happy Destiny" at that time (see Chapter 11 "A Vision for You" page 164).
Have you fully accepted the fact that you are powerless over your addictions? Are you still defending the notion that you could overcome your addiction through will power? If so, then why are you not doing so? Despite your consciousness that you want to stop; despite your true desire to stop, why don't you stop? The answer (that comes with so much proof) is that you are powerless over your addiction. Once we accept this REALITY, we are on our way to recovery.
