Powerless? Or PowerFUL? The Choice is Yours!

By asking a HP to handle these things, I move toward acceptance of my powerlessness and choose therefore to direct my time and energies toward areas where I am not powerless. I have the choice to not drink, therefore I am not powerless over alcohol. Digging a bit deeper it’s clear that we become powerless to control ourselves and the manageability of our lives when we drink. Drug & alcohol withdrawal can be agonizing — even life threatening. We highly recommend you do not attempt to detox on your own. A medical detox will help you safely and comfortably withdraw from drugs & alcohol.

Detox is is the vital first step in the journey toward lifelong recovery. Unmanageability is the wreckage of your powerlessness, the outcome or the cause (of your effect). As https://en.forexdata.info/50-substance-abuse-group-therapy-activities-for/ a result of not stopping the behavior, you’ve lost money, time, friends or jobs. You have a string of priorities you haven’t attended to, causing a build-up of wreckage.

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When we choose to see vulnerability as an act of courage rather than weakness, we create possibilities and move more fully toward the person we want to be. Our fears of rejection and/or disappointment prevent us from asking friends, family, and folks in recovery. When we allow our fears 12 Group Activities For Addiction Recovery to dictate our decisions, we suffer. Serenity, to accept the things I cannot change (other people). (This is a matter of awareness and acceptance not a lack of ability to make this distinction). Acknowledging powerlessness therefore means that we stop trying to do the impossible.

This understanding of the word obsession explains why we keep going back to pick up the first drink or drug. It makes so much sense when we look back at our behaviors—the threat of relationships ending, poor health, work-life, bad decisions, legal trouble, etc. We’re powerless when our mind is obsessing, so it’s nearly impossible to make the right decision. Admitting powerlessness means we can’t control our substance abuse. We might be able to stave off our abuse from time to time, but we start drinking or using drugs again sooner than later.

Women Addiction Statistics & Differences Complete Guide

For others, especially those who may have been victimized in the past, the weight of powerlessness feels impossible to bear, especially when they’ve built our lives on never feeling that way again. After a certain period, if these issues do not get addressed, he will start to feel powerless. This powerlessness can be very dangerous for someone with a history of alcoholism.

• You are captivated by the substance or behavior and can’t stop even when you know it doesn’t serve your highest good.
• When we become helpless to unmanaged family, work, finances, health, or relationships, we experience a real sense of powerlessness.
• Alternatively, you can use this entire list as a daily affirmation to support you in your recovery.
• They think they can’t get sober no matter how hard they try or what lengths they go.
• It is the resistance to what is that causes the most suffering.

It is through these experiences that an addict can finally get a sense that they are powerless over their addiction. When an addict understands that the drug itself has taken control over them, it can give them the drive to finally take back life into their own hands and be their own person again. They can take back their thoughts and actions and no longer be a slave to their addictive behavior. Powerlessness means accepting the fact that you will never be able to drink safely again and letting go of the idea that you can simply “cut down” or manage your drinking.

Power of Perspective

Ultimately, Step One in AA and NA is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. It empowers individuals to confront their addiction, embrace their vulnerabilities, and embark on a journey of healing and renewal. This step serves as a beacon of hope for those struggling with addiction, reminding them that they are not alone and that a network of individuals stands ready to support and uplift one another. The second part of Step One addresses the chaos and unmanageability that addiction brings into your life. It’s a candid look at the consequences of addiction, which can be painful but necessary for change.

A foundational truth in recovery is that you cannot stop or do better on your own. This belief assumes that you should be able to do recovery by yourself instead of relying on the support of other people. It forgets the unsuccessful efforts you’ve made to stop in the past, even though many of them came out of a place of trying to do better. Relying on your own independent attempts to control your behavior has likely led to more failure than success in the past. Believing you have enough power to stop on your own feeds isolation and pride, both of which are fuel for continuing in addiction. The number one character defect for most of us is that we are control freaks.