There’s some promises that go along with taking each step, if we take them thoroughly. Not maybes. Not “one guy said this happened to him once.” Actual promises. Real promises. Not fluffy pats on the butt to keep you from drinking. Things we can expect for our lives if we do the work.
And in Step Five, we get one a lot of us probably walked into AA desperately wanting: “The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly.”
That’s good news!
And disappeared is even better.
That’s not fighting. That’s not struggling. That’s not white-knuckling your way through dinner because somebody ordered a cocktail. That’s not gritting your teeth at the beer cave in a gas station.
That’s disappeared.
Like Tuesday, alcohol owned every square inch of your thinking. Wednesday, after this Fifth Step, it didn’t.
Where’d the problem go?
