I’m not sure why you’re reading this book right now. Maybe someone who loves you and is concerned for you gave you this book. Maybe you picked it up because you’re worried about yourself. Maybe you’re already searching through 12-Step communities but feel like your needs aren’t being addressed. Maybe you’ve been in a 12-Step program but don’t like any of the literature. Whatever it may be, my goal is to help you move past your problems into the next phase of your life.

What I’m going to assume is that you don’t fit in well with others. Maybe this is true; maybe it’s how you feel about yourself. Regardless of the truth of the matter, you’re not comfortable with the status quo. You’re wary of being one of the herd. If everyone goes in one door, you want to go out the window. If everyone jumps off a cliff, you jump off a bridge. What I’m saying is, you may not be making the right decisions, but at least you’re not making the same wrong decisions that everyone else is making. From this perspective,12-Step programs are a scary place.

At the beginning, everyone mumbles out the same prayer from memory. That’s an auspicious start to any group meeting. ou don’t like prayers, you don’t like group chantings. Every­one’s sharing a brain, you think. This is the Borg. Is it some kind of weird cult? Then it gets worse.