I Don’t Want to Lose Control Over My Life. How Can I Work the 12 Steps?

Most alcoholics and addicts have already lost control. That’s how we found ourselves lucky enough to be willing to work the program of recovery. People don’t often ask for help when they’ve got everything under control and things are going well. Right? But we did ask for help, and thankfully the 12-Steps were there. We […]

“Becoming a Part of” the Recovery Community

Alcoholism and addiction are a lonely disease. Almost without fail, they cause us to isolate ourselves from our loved ones and withdraw from our lives. Slowly but surely, our alcoholism and addiction become the number-one priority in our lives, forcing out everything that isn’t in direct service to our disease. This is a long, lonely […]

Picking the Tools Back Up

For those of us who suffer from alcoholism and addiction, it can seem impossible to get a handle on life. We struggle to keep it together, or follow through on our intentions. Thankfully, there is a solution. We find the rooms of recovery, and we are presented the 12-Step program. If we really want things […]

Why Doesn’t Self-Knowledge Fix My Problems?

A fair amount of self-knowledge and introspection is necessary for recovery. We must know who we are, what we value, what we want, and how we can best serve others. Self-knowledge helps us discover these things, but self-knowledge on its own won’t fix our problems — it is a piece of the puzzle. It is […]

Feeling Safe in Meetings

When we enter recovery, we soon learn about the “triangle” — Unity, Service, Recovery. In general terms, these three words represent the pillars of successful recovery from alcoholism and addiction. In essence, they are the main ingredients of our new lives freed from the disease.  Unity represents fellowship and meetings. Service is straightforward — we […]

A “Much More Important Demonstration of Our Principles” Lies Ahead

For those of us alcoholics and addicts who have been blessed enough to find ourselves in recovery, we most likely already know that working the 12-Steps on a daily basis can provide us with a daily reprieve from our alcoholism and addiction. Maybe we just wanted recovery to get sober, but now there’s all this […]

Why Do I Need a 12-Step Program?

People have been struggling with alcoholism and addiction for as long as alcohol and addictive substances have existed. Over the years, many treatments were devised and attempted. The remedies available to alcoholics just a few decades ago would seem barbaric by today’s standards. In this era of quick fixes, there may be less horrific approaches […]

Don’t Try To Do Everything at Once

For anyone struggling with drugs and alcohol, finding recovery can often be an incredibly powerful and energizing experience. Once we’ve gotten over the initial culture shock and embraced a recovery lifestyle, we will likely find ourselves incredibly excited by the possibilities our new life holds. We no longer hurt all the time, we’ve stopped making […]

Men’s Issues: Everybody Wants To Be The Lone Ranger

Everybody has issues, whether they are an alcoholic, addict, both, or neither. Man, woman, or child, we all have problems. Culturally speaking, no matter what categories you fit into, we hear a lot of mixed messages — some of which are downright destructive. At Jaywalker, we deal exclusively with men who suffer from alcoholism, addiction, […]

Do I Have To Believe in God To Get Sober?

Faith and belief are both deeply personal, almost private issues. What each of us has faith or believes in, whether we are in or out of recovery, is entirely our business. Yet many alcoholics and addicts who come to 12-Step programs looking for help immediately find their minds closed upon seeing the words “God” or […]