Do I Have To Work The 12 Steps Again After A Relapse?

The first three steps are critical for getting back on track in recovery. Trying to go back to where you started before you relapsed negates the theme and purpose of these steps:

• Step One: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable

• Step Two: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

• Step Three: Decided to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

The three principles associated with these steps cannot be missed when coming back to recovery. They correlate as follows:

• Step One: Surrender

• Step Two: Hope

• Step Three: Commitment

Relapsing means that we weren’t yet surrendered to the fact that we are alcoholics and addicted. We might not have thought our lives had become unmanageable yet. More importantly, we thought that our drinking and use were still manageable. We had not become powerless yet, according to our best thinking. Thus, there was nothing to admit. However, the longer it takes us to get back into recovery after a relapse is long enough for us to surrender our power and the idea of manageability fully. We have to admit that we can’t do it, no matter how we try. Though we may feel hopeless as commonly described as “alcoholics of the hopeless variety,” there is hope.

Coming to believe in a power greater than ourselves is easy to do by simply looking at alcohol. For many, drugs and alcohol are a higher power. As a greater power, there is no question. We were never able to be more powerful than our drink and drugs of choice. Powerless over ourselves and powerless over drugs and alcohol, we have to come to believe that there is the greatest power. There is one who has all power, that one is God, may you find him now, we hear at the beginning of AA meetings during a reading from a portion of chapter 5. Our relapse might have brought us to new depths in our “bottom,” leaving us more hopeless than we had ever been. Recovery is hope, and coming to believe in a healing power is what brings it to us.

Lastly, the true mark of coming back to recovery after a relapse is committing fully to recovery again. Our commitment is essential. If we aren’t “all into recovery, we still have one foot out the door. Having surrendered to the fact that we were powerless over drugs and alcohol and coming to believe that there is something greater than ourselves, we have to commit to these beliefs to move forward. Lifetime recovery is always a possibility when we commit ourselves to change.

Everyone is capable of recovery. Everyone is capable of change. At Design For Change, our long term treatment options help clients take action to change their lives, one step at a time. For more information on our residential programs and recovery services, call us today at 855-997-1372.