How Hope As a Spiritual Principle Helps Through The AA Steps
Three in four people dealing with substance abuse issues find their way to sobriety, according to a study published by the CDC and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. If you've ever had to grapple with alcoholism, a number like that should give you hope.
The AA spiritual principles provide a framework for many ideas that help alcoholics in recovery, and hope sits near the start as principle number two. What does it mean to have hope, though, and how can you cultivate hope?
Maintaining hope requires care and practice, and building it up helps every step afterward. If you've been having trouble staying sober, keep reading, and we'll discuss how hope can provide a scaffolding to keep climbing toward sobriety.
Why Is Hope Part of the AA Spiritual Principles?
The AA principles define hope as a belief in a higher power. Adherents take this step after applying the first principle, acceptance.
While many recovering alcoholics choose to place this faith in God, hope can take many forms. Some place that trust in nature, while others consider their support structure higher power. Whatever the choice, hope allows those on a journey of recovery to face difficulties with a positive outlook.
How Does Hope Help?
With faith in a power outside of oneself comes the strength to keep moving and the will to reach out for help. If you cannot trust anyone outside of yourself, obstacles can prove crushing for recovery. If you trust no one else and you fail, it can seem as though you've doomed yourself by failing and will never reach a state of sober living.
Hope turns this on its head. Even if you stumble, the entity you place your faith in still exists. You remain one with nature or endowed with God's unique light even as you relapse or lose touch with friends.
Hope and faith have a strong documented effect on recovery from substance abuse. A 2001 study found that those who attended religious services often drank less and used fewer illicit drugs.
Hope in Later AA Steps
As your journey continues toward later Alcoholics Anonymous achievements, you'll find yourself tested. Later steps through the journey involve cultivating patience and demonstrating a will to change.
If you have hope, patience comes more easily. Temporary setbacks pale in comparison to that sense of long-term understanding that you are part of a larger world.
The willingness to change also benefits a lot from seeing yourself as part of something bigger. If you trust in something beyond yourself, you'll find yourself more willing to make changes to support that.
Holding Out Hope
The AA spiritual principles put hope so early because they work best once you've built that foundation. Hope alone won't make a sober lifestyle, but it opens your heart and mind to change and makes failure easier to handle.
If you've managed to make a change in your life and want to commemorate your hard work, check out our jewelry, coins, and tokens. Whether it's been three months or ten years, commemorating your achievements can help you maintain hope in dark times. We offer a personal touch that other token sellers don't offer and still hand-write "thank you" notes for every package.