As I mentioned in a previous post, rewriting the twelve steps of AA was an incredibly important part of my initial sobriety.  I found the general process of the steps potentially helpful, but saw some major flaws in its execution.  It seemed to me that taking the steps as-written could potentially take an already desperate, broken individual and take them down even further into self-pity and hopelessness than they had already gone.  The original steps included things like “admitting powerlessness” (Step 1), naming every single one of your “character defects” (Step 6), and eventually doing a nightly inventory of each time you were selfish, self-centered, or dishonest that day (Step 10).  For my own sobriety, these were not exercises I needed to be doing to begin to regain self-confidence and self-respect.  Luckily, there were resources available that would allow me to carefully examine each step and rework each one to better empower and enlighten. Continue reading →