Step One is where I finally gave up the fight against alcohol and whatever else and admitted I was totally powerless to stop my pain or anything else from ever again getting the best of me. I was completely unable to manage my own life out of my mess and into right relations with the world around me, and there were not enough cheerleaders or "support" anywhere in the world to make any difference there. You will almost never hear about that level of "dropping the shovel" in today's AA, but there at a complete Step One is where permanent recovery from chronic alcoholism can truly begin.