The Twelve Steps are a useful spiritual tool that can help you to “clean house” or take a look at what is going on in the inside. When someone has an addiction, it is very common for them to destroy everything around them while sabotaging their own personal integrity. Addiction is difficult to come back from, but the Steps have proven to help addicts and alcoholics transform their way back to better circumstances. Steps 1-4 will help you to admit that you are powerful, help you to connect to a Higher Power, and make an inventory of all your resentments and fears. Once your inventory is complete, you are now ready for Step 5.
Step 5
“Admitted to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
When this Step was initially rolled out in 1939, there was no actual terminology of having a sponsor anywhere, only another human being that alluded to using a religious person. The first pamphlet about sponsorship was produced in 1944 by Clarence S and called, “AA Sponsorship Pamphlet.” Over the decades, it has evolved to where most people tell their 5th Step to a sponsor. The shameful stuff that an addict or alcoholic does in their addiction, could make it uncomfortable to share with someone in the clergy. A person that may have done what you did and are a member of the program, would probably make a better candidate to share your 5th Step with.
Working this Step is vital to staying sober. Learning to be rigorously honest is crucial to being able to muster up enough humility to follow through with this Step. If you are holding back in any capacity and keeping something to yourself, you are allowing your shame and guilt to hold you hostage. You may be embarrassed and humiliated to have to say these things out loud, but it is part of the process that makes you become vulnerable to your Higher Power and to your sponsor.
Once you are finished completing your verbal portion of your 5th Step, it is suggested to go home and find a quiet place to spend time with your Higher Power. This hour is spent reflecting on how solid your Step work has been up until that point and thanking your Higher Power for the progress you have made thus far. The 5th Step, just like all the others, is important to being able to move onto your 6th Step. Your 5th Step will reveal all your character defects in all the writing that you courageously wrote on your 4th Step. That is why the Steps are meant to be worked in the order that they come in.
Serenity Oaks Wellness Center has personalized treatment plans that are based on the 12-Step program. Working the Steps is one more way to ensure you have a better chance at recovery. If you think you have a problem with drugs and alcohol, reach out to us. Call us now: 844-720-6847
