This is "ADMITTING POWERLESSNESS," which is Chapter Seven of "The Addict's Guide to Recovery" by Emily Sussman, LCSW; illustrated by J.E. Larson.

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"Admitting powerlessness over your drug doesn’t make you a weak person. It doesn’t make you a failure, either. It doesn’t mean you will never have fun again. And it doesn’t mean you will lose your power to comfort yourself in the face of difficult feelings.

Admitting powerlessness is simply one of the first steps you’ll have to take to start walking the road of recovery. This is the road that grants you the power to break every limitation you’ve ever put upon yourself, or that others have put upon you. This is the road that grants you the power to overcome the fears and untangle the lies that have prevented you from living a peaceful, free, and happy life as Your True Self.

Unlike the collaborative, cooperative, and interdependent nature of nearly everything else you’ll do in recovery, though, admitting powerlessness is a step you’ll have to take on your own. I mean that in the sense that the truth of it has to come from you, and you alone. Ultimately, I can’t tell anyone else that they’re powerless, and have it mean anything constructive.

That’s why I’m here to hold your hand, my dear Addict friends, as I gently guide you along the road of truth. The road of truth is the road of love, which is the only real security, and the only real release, from powerlessness. And I don’t just mean powerlessness over your drug. I mean powerlessness over your feelings, your thoughts, your behavior, and the direction of your life itself.

Speaking of truth, I’d like to reiterate that admitting powerlessness over your drug is not a moral failing. It has nothing to do with the strength of your character, or of your inherent deficiency as a person. Neither is it an indication of how uncool you are, because you can’t control your drug the way other people seem to be able to. Powerlessness over your drug just is.

Researchers have pointed to a whole host of factors that contribute to addiction, trying to answer the question of why some people progressively lose control over a certain drug or behavior, and others don’t. Some research points to genetics, or to social conditioning, or to trauma, or to personality. Some research points to a combination of them all.

The WHY? question may be an interesting one, but it’s only slightly more helpful to your recovery than“rying to answer the shame and blame-laced question of why me? Do you need to know how electricity works in order to flip on a light switch? Do you need to understand the laws of physics to restrain yourself from jumping off a building?

Besides, there will be plenty of time to dig into the roots of your addictive personality — i.e., Your Addict — once you’re sober. We can’t put the cart before the horse. It’s only when you take away your drug, whose function was to numb or transform you, that you’ll have access to the feelings and facts that will help you make sense of how your emotional and behavioral patterns came to be.

Right now, asking WHY? won’t move you forward, nor will raging against the injustice of your condition. Accepting the truth about your powerlessness will.

Copyright 2025 Freedom Recovery Press

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Sent with True Love from the Universe ❤️💫