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We have taken extreme measures to ensure that our own user is not going to be misused to harm any of our clients sites. Judy is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in the State of Maryland, and a National Certified Counselor. She earned her Master’s Degree in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University with an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland. She has served in both clinical and leadership positions in a number of roles, in inpatient and outpatient settings, as a Primary Therapist and Clinical Supervisor.
You are also embracing your need to learn what led you to become addicted in the first place, the thoughts, and behaviors that fuel your addiction, and what you must do to achieve and maintain sobriety. Hesitantly, I started on what would later become the most important decision of my life. He first had me think about all the things powerless over alcohol I lost due to my alcohol or drug use. So I did, and while I was mentally compiling that list I thought, “Damn, could all of this hurt and pain have been avoided if I had not been drinking or high? However, even though I had all these terrible things going on, I continued to drink thinking it’s not that bad or it would get better.
What Does Powerless Mean In AA?
The mental obsession and physical cravings increase after the first drink, causing the person to drink more. After many years of denial, recovery can begin for alcoholics and their families with one simple admission of being powerless over alcohol. This is the first step of the 12 step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon programs. In essence, you are making a conscious choice to stop lying to yourself. You accept that you can’t continue drinking alcohol or using drugs and that you have absolutely no control when you are using.
There are many ways to overcome powerlessness over addiction. One step is to understand that addiction is a disease. Once you realize that addiction is a disease, you can start to see yourself as someone who is sick, rather than someone who is weak or morally flawed. Alcohol and drugs act as the kryptonite, Achilles heel, or fatal weakness, of every abnormal drinker and drug user. Powerlessness was our personal experience and the insight we reached after countless times of trying to moderate or quit.
So What Is the First Step Asking For?
As you survey the havoc your addiction has wreaked, you can take comfort in knowing that the rubble will gradually be cleared away and a new landscape will emerge. On the other hand, with the right tools, expertise, and assistance, you can remove the debris and rebuild something far better in its place. Admitting powerlessness over your addiction opens the door to possibilities, and nothing is more empowering than crossing that threshold. The answer is joining a community and diving into the 12 steps. A Higher Power will be able to restore you back to sanity, as it says in the second step. To do the next few steps and place your trust in a Higher Power, you must admit that your life is unmanageable because of you.
We’ve had good reasons to quit for good, and we continued drinking or using drugs anyway. 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.
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Deirdre graduated in 2012 from Pace University and completed her bachelor’s at Columbia University in New York and has her Master of Science in Family Nurse Practitioner. Deirdre also has a Master’s in Public Health in Epidemiology. Deirdre has extensive experience in mental health and treating substance use disorder related issues. In addition, Deirdre has experience in caring for young adults, women’s health issues and adolescents with HIV/AIDS.
- Most people will try a drug once or twice and move on completely.
- They are certain that next year will be different, even though they live on an annual floodplain and their recent, horrific experience is identical to every year they’ve ever lived there.
- A crucial part of completing AA Step one revolves around admitting powerlessness.
- When we admit that we are powerless over alcohol or drugs, we admit that we are living with a disease that alters the chemical makeup of the brain.
Join Recovery Connection in celebrating your recovery with our sobriety calculator. We’re respected, we’re trusted, and we’re happy to help you take that first, bold step towards recovery; towards becoming a better you. Boulder, Colorado is an active, growing, and flourishing community which provides work, volunteer, education, and internship opportunities for Choice House residents.
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Many people resist the term powerlessness because it contradicts much of what we have been taught. Believing you can do anything and fix everything if you just try harder and want it enough is instilled https://ecosoberhouse.com/ in us at any early age. The truth is we cannot do or fix everything, regardless of how hard we try or how much we want it. We cannot control the weather, war, illness, or other people.