Step Five of the Twelve Steps of Recovery

Let's begin looking at Step Five of the Twelve Steps: "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." Here is some of what AA's Big Book says about Step Five:

"Having made our personal inventory, what shall we do about it? We have been trying to get a new attitude, a new relationship with our Creator, and to discover the obstacles in our path. We have admitted certain defects; we have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is; we have put our finger on the weak times in our personal inventory. Now these are about to be cast out. This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects. This brings us to the Fifth Step in the program of recovery...This is perhaps difficult, especially discussing our defects with another person. We think we have done well enough in admitting these things to ourselves. There is doubt about that. In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient. Many of us thought it necessary to go much further.

We will be more reconciled to discussing ourselves with another person when we see good reasons why we should do so. The best reason first: If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking. Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk."

Humility is a key concept in recovery, one that is an inherent part of many of the Twelve Steps of recovery, including Step Five. For more discussion of Step Five, see my site: http://www.alcoholdrugsos.com, and the Addiction Recovery Tip for the Day.