Lessons from Alcoholics Anonymous jordanmarsh6, September 3, 2021April 5, 2023 The story of how Alcoholics Anonymous got started is an interesting one. There was a fellow named “Bill W” who was a stockbroker in New York back in the 1930’s who also was an alcoholic. Bill found that as he helped other alcoholics conquer the drink, that it helped him continue to stay sober. By the time he left on a work trip to Akron, Ohio he had been sober about five months. The work trip ended poorly for Bill. So poorly in fact, that the only thing he wanted to do was drink. As “legend” has it, he was so ready to drink that right before he was about to go to the bar and give his streak of sobriety up, he thought to himself, “I have got to find another alcoholic.” He called around and was eventually introduced to a surgeon in Akron. They call this surgeon “Dr. Bob” who also had a massive drinking problem. On May 12, 1935, Dr. Bob and Bill W. had the first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Dr. Bob was so struck by what he had learned from Bill that he completely gave up alcohol after that. Over the next four years, Dr. Bob and Bill W. held meetings in Brooklyn, New York and Akron, Ohio and helped around 100 people get sober. The group published their methods in 1939 in a book called “Alcoholics Anonymous”. With this book, popularity skyrocketed and people all over the country were using it. By 1950, in just over ten years after the publication, over 100,000 people had become sober. In 2005, 25 million copies of Alcoholics Anonymous had been purchased. It’s hard to imagine a more difficult habit to break than alcoholism. Personally, I have never drank, so it is hard for me to understand what these people go through. But the more I read stories about alcoholism and the more I learn about medical treatment for alcoholics, it’s pretty clear that the struggle is more than real. In fact, a more-common-than-you-would-think scenario that I have been trained in med school to recognize is when alcoholics consume other forms of alcohol besides ethanol. Methanol and ethylene glycol are various forms of alcohol often found in anti-freeze. Some alcoholics will drink anti-freeze because it technically has alcohol in it when they realize their supply of “safe” ethanol is gone. It causes a condition called metabolic acidosis, which is basically just acidic blood. Seems to me like the 12 steps could be applied to many aspects of our life in our hope of self-improvement. If they can help alcoholics become sober, they can help anyone trying to change. In thinking about this post though, it’s the last step that stands out to me the most right now: 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. This ties in so well with the desperation that Bill felt in Akron after his failed business meeting. The moment that he was ready to succumb to the drink yet again, he knew he needed to find another person like him. He even mentioned how helpful it was for him to maintain sobriety by helping other alcoholics get sober way before he ever went to Akron. Step 12 reflects that: to help yourself, you need to help others. Self Improvement