Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

STEP SEVEN

try with a will, or else fall by the wayside. At this stage of
our progress we are under heavy pressure and coercion to
do the right thing. We are obliged to choose between the
pains of trying and the certain penalties of failing to do so.
These initial steps along the road are taken grudgingly, yet
we do take them. We may still have no very high opinion of
humility as a desirable personal virtue, but we do recognize
it as a necessary aid to our survival.

But when we have taken a square look at some of these
defects, have discussed them with another, and have be-
come willing to have them removed, our thinking about
humility commences to have a wider meaning. By this time
in all probability we have gained some measure of release
from our more devastating handicaps. We enjoy moments
in which there is something like real peace of mind. To
those of us who have hitherto known only excitement,
depression, or anxiety—in other words, to all of us—this
newfound peace is a priceless gift. Something new indeed
has been added. Where humility had formerly stood for a
forced feeding on humble pie, it now begins to mean the
nourishing ingredient which can give us serenity.

This improved perception of humility starts another
revolutionary change in our outlook. Our eyes begin to
open to the immense values which have come straight out
of painful ego-puncturing. Until now, our lives have been
largely devoted to running from pain and problems. We
fled from them as from a plague. We never wanted to deal
with the fact of suffering. Escape via the bottle was always
our solution. Character-building through suffering might
be all right for saints, but it certainly didn't appeal to us.