Step Two - The Book

STEP TWO

Came to believe that a Power Greater than Ourselves could restore us to sanity

In Step One, we admitted our powerlessness. For some of us, this was a devastating admission. We looked back at our years of nicotine addiction and all our attempts to quit. Every attempt had failed. We realized that we could not stop. Neither self-recrimination, willpower, nor analysis of our situation helped. We felt like failures. We asked, “Why can’t I quit when everyone else can?” 

     Now at Step Two, we began to find answers to our questions. Having admitted our own powerlessness, we became willing to find a source of power greater than ourselves, greater than our addiction. Out of the despair and without understanding why, there came an awareness of an alternative. We accepted the possibility of hope.

     Some of us may have found that our original conception of a Power greater than ourselves had failed us. There are those who rebelled against attempts to be convinced of fixed ideas about God or resisted involvement in an unquestioning faith. For those who have had no allegiance to a religion, coming to believe in a Higher Power may be a new undertaking. Those who had a spiritual connection looked to a Higher Power as the source of hope.

     We learned that we didn’t even have to have a definition of God or a Power greater than ourselves. We could just act as if we believed, trusting when we did not know or understand. “Coming to believe” was a process. It had nothing to do with logic, reason, certainty, or figuring things out. Instead, it had to do with our own personal convictions, with an open mind, flexibility, and a willingness to allow something good to happen to ourselves. 

     With our openness, we examined the phrase “restore us to sanity.” We had always thought of ourselves as fairly sane. But how could we have thought that, when 20, 40, 60 or more times a day we continued to use nicotine--knowing it was killing us and harming others? 

     At first, the notion of insanity seemed dramatic, especially to apply it to ourselves. We listened at meetings to others’ stories. Hearing their tales of dangerous midnight cigarette runs, plucking butts out of gutters, garbage cans, and smoking through tracheotomy tubes, or having to swallow tobacco juice rather than spit it out, or damaging property by dripping vape juice caused us to remember similar behavior of our own. We saw our own insanity—repeating the same actions over and over, expecting the results to be different. 

     Admitting our insanity around nicotine would have left us in despair if our only solution had been our own will power. Left on our own, there was no way out. Somebody, something—some Power—had to help. 

     We saw others’ success, and we listened when they suggested that we suspend our rational thinking and give this other Power an opportunity to work in our lives. As we began to hear what they were saying, there was a sense of hope. We were not alone any more. This Power and our connection to it, and to other people was the doorway to a life free from nicotine. 

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