Getting recovered from alcoholism ; the great promise of the AA Book

One of the greatest promises of the AA 12 step program in the AA book (in my humble opinion) is the ability of an alcoholic to become recovered ON the program of AA. In other words, by doing the 12 steps. Below I have extracted a couple of sections of the book which show and illustrate what true recovery from alcoholism looks like - what it's like to be a recovered alcoholic. This is based on the basic concept of AA's solution to alcoholism which brings about recovery. "Spiritual Fitness"

Chapter 7 "Working with Others"

Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn’t think or be reminded about alcohol at all.
 

Our experience shows that this is not necessarily so. We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. His only chance for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland Ice Cap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of scotch and ruin every­thing! Ask any woman who has sent her husband to distant places on the theory he would escape the
alcohol problem.
 

In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. If the alcoholic tries to shield
himself he may succeed for a time, but he usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever. We have tried these methods. These attempts to do the im­possible have always failed.

The 10th Step promises (also a good description of the recovered alcoholic).

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have re­turned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and
protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our
experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.

Anyone new to the AA program might ask themselves at this point. How do I get spiritually fit? Well, there is a simple answer you might not expect. Do the 12 steps with a good sponsor who uses the AA book and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book to take you through the steps.