12 STEPS to Recovery — STEP #10

Focus on the Recovery Process

With the first nine Steps behind us, we are seemingly prepared to live a sober, honest and God loving life, keeping in emotional balance and living a life of good purpose under all conditions.

I recall after the first 30 days of sobriety, wondering how I was going to function without my little pill box. You see, I had given up alcohol and turned to narcotics because alcohol made me throw up; pills did not. But, now I had learned to trust in God (my higher power) and to live my life one day at a time.

I have gotten in the habit of taking personal inventory of my day. Every night, upon retiring, I go over the day’s events, recalling the people I had interacted with, places I had been and things I had done. I find it vitally important to analyze the minutest detail (this is called self-appraisal) lest I deceive myself and not want to admit any wrongs I had done. You see, this could easily lead you to your first drink or pill. We addicts are known for deceiving ourselves. I can’t emphasize enough how important the 4th & 5th steps are. To me, they are a cleansing.

Now that we have come to terms with the past, we can face tomorrow’s challenges. AA advises us that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts us and we react in a negative manner, we are in the wrong also. We are not skilled enough to separate justified from unjustified anger. Life is full of ups and downs. It is how we react to them that is important in this new way of life. Self-restraint is of the utmost importance. We must train ourselves to step back and think before acting out. It would do us well to become more tolerant of others as well as ourselves. As a fairly new or “baby” Christian, as I like to refer to myself as being, I like to say that I would like to be more like Jesus. He is our best example.

So, as painful as it so often is to admit to another person that we have done them an injustice and therefore need to apologize to him or her, the good feeling one gets afterwards is second to none. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should further injure them in any way. An example would be if you have cheated with someone else’s spouse, you need not admit this to them and make matters even worse. Pray to God for forgiveness. It works.