Step 2
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Ouch this is tough. To admit that something more powerful than "YOU" even exists in this universe. Actually, if you really have hit bottom it's kind of easy to see that something or someone can be more powerful than ourselves. Especially if we are as hopeless and helpless as the first step makes us out to be.
It would be awful indeed to be stuck on step one, and never get this step figured out. If you do admit defeat as in step one, and do not accept what this step says, then you have . . . no hope. Because you are saying that your way didn't work, and that there is no other way that will work. That's awful, that's terrible, that's depressing, don't you think?
But, what is offered here is that something or someone outside of ourselves can help us. Can help restore us to sanity. After all, don't so many other people 'seem' to be sane? Aren't they doing much better, even though they aren't any better?
This step is next, because it admits the 'possibility' that help is available. That something better may be possible. For some, it goes straight to the 'probability' that we can be restored. This is hope, as a tiny mustard seed for some, but it is still hope.
Hope is something we don't have if we continue to be self-serving and self-centered. That attitude brings us loneliness, and that really is no fun!
* The Twelve Steps are reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint and adapt the Twelve Steps does not mean that A.A. has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, nor that A.A. agrees with the views expressed herein. A.A. is a program of recovery from alcoholism. Use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs which are patterned after A.A. but which address other problems does not imply otherwise.
The complete Serenity Prayer is also available on this website.