A Programme of Action

If you want a fulfilled and happy recovery, you need to take a programme of action. There are two distinct parts to recovery – the first is putting down the drink or drugs and the second is doing something about your life in order to make it fulfilled. You can stop drinking or using and just attend meetings but happiness will not come by a process of osmosis. Your sponsor can do the journey with you – but not for you. You need to actually do something and that is where the 12 step programme comes in.

12 Steps

You would probably be surprised at how many people attend 12 step meetings but who have not been through the 12 Steps. However by and large there is a correlation between people who have been through the twelve steps and seem to have the sort of life most of us would like in recovery, and those who have not (who probably seem a bit miserable).

I have mentioned before the most miserable person I have ever come across in recovery who goes to many of my local meetings and proudly announces he has no programme but has been sober 20 years. He tells us that all he does each day is live – for which he means exist – and breathe. If that is what recovery is like, if I was brave enough, I might have drank myself to death as it was not what I wanted. In contrast, the old saying which is sometimes repeated at the end of meetings ‘it works if you work it, so work it, you’re worth it’ has much more of an appeal.

What is the programme of action?

So what is this programme of action? The first step is not hard work, it is about surrender – no longer fighting our addiction but accepting it and that, like having an allergy to something, we can no longer safely drink or use ever again. We accept that we are not all powerful, that there is a ‘power greater than ourselves’ and that we will trust in that power to take care of and direct us in our recovery. Take an in-depth moral inventory of our character and our past life and accept that we have done wrong due to our character failings.

We decide we want to put things right and live a better life in the future, so we make a list of all the people we have wronged and go and tell them that we are sorry (or make amends in some other way). Then we start keeping our lives in order on a daily basis, taking an inventory of our actions each day and putting right our wrongs. We keep in touch with our ‘higher power’ and share our recovery with others, helping others to find what we have.

Try it before dismissing it

Many people are cynical about the efficacy of the 12 step programme but I would suggest that they try it before dismissing it. Even if you are not an alcoholic or addict, it is an amazingly good way to conduct your life.

If you have an alcohol or drug related problem, please call 01462 851414 for free and confidential advice and help.