In a 12-Step program there is lingo that is expressed among its members that you will learn the longer you stay involved. From the 12 Steps to the 12 Traditions or from “keep coming back” to “one day at a time”, the jargon is considered important to learn how to stay sober. One of the less common phrases you may hear about is “two stepping” but nonetheless this definition can be an essential piece of information about how one is conducting themselves in their program.

Two stepping in a 12-Step program has nothing to do with country dancing or working on your second step. The definition of two stepping in this capacity means that someone is simply going to meetings and has gone from step one to step twelve without working steps two through eleven in between. A person who is two stepping uses meetings as their only form of recovery. There is no working with a sponsor or trying to repair the pain on the inside from going through the 12 Steps in total completion even for someone who may have decades of sobriety.

Some members may frown upon this, but those who are practicing the principles in all their affairs will understand that a 12-Step program is merely based upon suggestions only. What a person gets out of their recovery is what they put into it and this is no different for someone who only goes to meetings.

“Meeting makers make it,” members will proclaim and there is something to that statement. If you stick around long enough, you will hear people share in meetings that the number one reason that they relapsed is that they stop going to meetings. When they stopped hearing the message and they stopped surrounding themselves with people that they relate to, they lost focus in their sobriety and then lost all control.

In order to avoid two-stepping, you should follow the program the way it is intended instead of continuing to fight everything and everyone. Instead of just attending a meeting, talk to someone with whom you can relate to and ask them to be your sponsor. Attaining a sponsor will lead you into the direction of reading the literature and getting busy with the steps. Having this life line to the program will provide much more assurance to stay sober than relying on two stepping to be your only solution.

Sticking to the program is doable. Although you may have to work the program for your lifetime because addiction is not curable, you only need to take your program one day at a time to which you will be grateful that you did.

If you or someone you know is in the depths of drug or alcohol addiction, The Kimberly Center is ready to assist you in a new way of living. By learning who you are without drugs and alcohol in your system, you can see how full life can be in your recovery.

Call us today to begin: 855-4-KCENTER (855-452-3683)