I hear many people at meetings introduce themselves like this, or in a similar way. Sometimes I hear, “I’m AA, Al-Anon, OA, SA and ACOA.” What kind of secret language is this? Why do we have to express ourselves in such a complicated manner? Why do we have to name a number of groups to introduce ourselves as people? What is this introduction good for?

Step One, powerlessness, and surrender are discussed in the texts of anonymous fellowships. Again and again it is emphasized how important it is to voice how I feel and to introduce myself with my symptoms. What is my symptom? SA? But SA is a group. Why do we have to define ourselves by using a group to introduce ourselves?

The most important thing is to introduce myself with my symptom! I am co-dependent. Belonging to a group is not my symptom. On the contrary, belonging to a group is my salvation, because going to meetings leads me to recovery.

The mystery of Step One is the surrender, giving up my right to go on behaving in a sick way, and thus I get the freedom to behave in a healthy way. This freedom gives me more than anything else I have expected for my life up to now. Surrendering is like a warm stream that flows into my life, which was so dominated by coldness that I almost froze to death. So it is good to sit in a meeting and let my block of ice melt. And this happens simply by sitting in a meeting and listening to the experiences of others in working the program. Where there is experience and strength in a meeting, it is there that I find strength and energy for my recovery.

Step One is the beginning of my spiritual growth, which I experience more and more by working the Steps that come after. And for me it is essential to share with others the areas in which I am sick and give up my old secrecy about my symptoms. This is the public aspect of Step One. By sharing about my symptoms with others, they lose the power they have over me. For me that is the deeper meaning of introducing myself with my symptoms.