Step 1 Questions: An Honest Look at Your Drinking
These Step 1 questions help you see, from your own story, whether alcohol has the upper hand. Answer them in writing, one at a time, and be as specific as you can. They are the same seven questions Jimmy and Sarah ask in the app when you work the first step.
Before you start
Get a notebook or open a note on your phone. Give yourself twenty quiet minutes. Pray first if you can, even one line: “God, help me be honest.” Don’t try to answer all seven in one sitting. One a day is fine.
Keep your copy of the Big Book nearby. Page numbers below are from the 4th edition.
“Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”
God isn’t after a polished answer. He wants the true one, and he’s the one who helps you find it.
Safety first. If you drink heavily every day, stopping suddenly can be dangerous. Talk to a doctor before you quit.
The seven questions
1. Tell the story of the last time you drank. What happened right before the first one?
Write it like a short scene. Where were you? What was the mood? The point is the moment before the first drink, because that is where the real problem hides. Was there a thought like “just one” or “I deserve this”?
2. How have you tried to control your drinking? Only beer, only weekends, never before five? How did it go?
List every rule you’ve ever made. Then, next to each, write how long it lasted. People who drink normally don’t usually need rules like these.
3. Once you start, can you reliably stop when you meant to? Give an honest example.
“Reliably” is the key word. Everyone can point to a night they stopped at two. The question is whether you can count on it.
4. When you’ve quit before, what was your thinking like right before you started again?
This is about the mind, not the body. Try to remember the exact reasoning. Many people find it sounds sensible at the time and absurd on paper.
5. What has drinking cost you? Name the people.
Money and jobs count, but names matter more. Who has been hurt, worried or let down? Be honest without piling on. This isn’t a list of reasons to hate yourself. It’s a list of what is true.
6. Read p. 30, the start of More About Alcoholism. Where do you see yourself in it?
Read the page slowly in your own copy. Then write one or two sentences about what sounded familiar.
7. Do you believe you can stay stopped on your own power? Why or why not?
This is the heart of the step. Look back at your answers to questions 2 and 4 before you write this one.
Two questions to check yourself
When you’ve worked through all seven, the app asks two final questions before Step 1 is marked complete:
- Can you say, in your own words, that your body and your mind are both part of the problem?
- Do you believe you can’t beat this on your own power?
If you can answer yes to both, you’ve done Step 1. If not, that’s fine. Reread Bill’s Story (pp. 1–16) and talk to someone who has been sober a while.
Bring it to a person
These answers are for you and God, but they do more good when someone else hears them. Read a few to a person in recovery, a pastor or a trusted friend. Hearing someone say “me too” is often what makes Step 1 land.
Next: the Step 1 page has the full explanation, the Step 1 Bible verses pair well with question 7, and when you’re ready, the Step 2 questions pick up from here.
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