Welcome to the 12 Step Path.
I am not certain what brought you here, how you might have stumbled upon this blog or sought it out intentionally. Perhaps you are curious because you think you may have a problem with alcohol or drugs or maybe you are currently walking with purpose along the Road of Happy Destiny. It really doesn't matter whether you are taking your first step on this path or you are a seasoned traveler - what does matter is that you're here. Welcome!
Let me introduce myself.
I am a recovered alcoholic and my name is Marcia. By the Grace of a Higher Power that separated me from alcohol and mind-altering chemicals on September 2, 1986, I have been given a gift. This is a priceless, fragile gift that I do not take for granted. I have not had a drink since I was brought to AA, which is a miracle in itself. I drank alcoholically from my first drink at the age of 14, when blacked out for approximately 3 hours. It was like falling in love. Maybe you understand what I mean. It treated my alcoholism, a feeling of not belonging in this world, a discomfort in my skin, my cnception of who I was - in essence, a malady of the spirit.
So, I was an "instant alcoholic", if you will. I had an allergy to alcohol that manifested in a compulsion to drink more and more until I was stopped by some force other than my own will. I could never get enough. Tragic things happened, people were hurt, I was a wreck of a human being for some time, even though I could still keep up appearances to a degree.
Then, one day it stopped working. Instead of being my solution, instead of becoming comfortably numb, I felt too much. It ceased turning off the monkey mind that attacked me when I was not drinking - a symptom of obsession. If not for the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, I would not have enjoyed the opportunity for the happy, joyous and free life I have experienced for almost 25 years now.
If it were not for the people who reached back with the hand of AA when I reached out for help, I would likely not have survived my disease of addiction. And, most importantly, had it not been for the clear-cut directions in the text, Alcoholics Anonymous, affectionately known as the Big Book, again, my results would not have been as satisfactory and possibly not even successful.
What I recognize and am forever grateful for today is that my first step occurred in another alcoholic's twelfth step. The person who gave me my first Big Book, the woman who checked me into treatment when I hit bottom, the young man who reached out to me at my first meeting and introduced me to the lady that became my sponsor ... all of these recovering people and many more in some way contributed to filling my empty bucket with hope. It was an attraction I had to this thing they possessed. They were content, even with unresolved life "problems". They were employed, honest, humble and striving to be better people.
As an elder statesman of Alcoholics Anonymous, Clancy I., puts it, recovery happens when "one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, helping him reduce his feelings of difference enough so that he will take actions which he does not yet believe in" in order to achieve results which cannot be explained.
The 12 Step Path blog came about as another avenue for me to carry the message of hope and recovery offered by the transformational process that saved my life, restored my faith in a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe, no matter what you call it by name.
The Program, Alcoholics Anonymous, is not a course to be attended, a punitive judicial sentence, religious zealots or group therapy. It is NOT a self-help program. If you want to know more, please come back and visit often or email me directly at the address which can be found under the Contact link.
If you want to know about the proven solution for the chronic alcoholic or drug addict, go to a Big Book study or a closed meeting. The help is free. Read the book, find someone who actively works the Steps continuously as a way of life and ask them to guide you through your own 12 Steps. Above all, please keep an open mind. The British philosopher, Herbert Spencer wrote :
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
Please also visit my friend, Glen A.'s blog, Our Common Solution at ourcommonsolution.blogspot.com
Thank you for stopping in and I look forward to meeting you along my path.
