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Fourth Step: Do A Spring Cleaning Inventory

Spring cleaning happens every year for a reason. Throughout the year you’ve accumulated stuff. Most often, we don’t realize how much stuff we’ve accumulated until we start going through our stuff and take an honest inventory of all the stuffy we have. Typically, we are surprised by our amount of stuff. How and when did we accumulate all of these things? Now that we can see them, how is it that we were ever living with this much stuff? Earnestly, we embark on spring cleaning to rid ourselves of as much unnecessary stuff as possible. Getting rid of our stuff, we tidy up and organize the stuff we do have, vowing to appreciate it more. We won’t take on anymore stuff, we promise ourselves. Yet, each spring we do another cleaning, getting rid of more stuff.

Addicts and alcoholics in recovery have a lot of stuff. Not necessarily material stuff, but emotional stuff, psychological stuff, spiritual stuff, and trauma stuff. Primarily, addicts and alcoholics accumulate resentment stuff, the tiny little chips on the shoulder which become icy blocks and turn into craters. Resentment stuff gets in the way of living life functionally, just like too much stuff in our household gets in the way of living life functionally. Thankfully, the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous provided a solution in the fourth step. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves is the text of step four in the twelve steps of AA, or any other twelve step program. The fourth step asks us to make a list of our stuff, the stuff we’ve held onto for so long, the stuff that has held onto us.

Some people work the steps every year focusing on one step per month, as the AA approved Daily Reflections does. April is the fourth month of the year, making it the perfect time of year to do a fourth step as a mental and emotional spring cleaning. Taking honest stock of our stuff requires two things. First, being willing to look at all of that stuff and where it came from. Two, being willing to let go of that stuff. Then, there is a bonus requirement. We have to take responsibility, to an extent, for that stuff. Not all of our stuff belongs to us, in fact, most of it doesn’t. For the stuff that does, however, we have to take accountability for it. Along the way we learn about ourselves, find room for improvement, and continue on our journey.

Recovery is a journey, one that asks us to continually grow and evolve. An annual or regular fourth step is one of our many tools for finding where our transformation can take place.

The best move to make for recovery from drug abuse is the quickest move by calling and asking for help immediately. Recovery is possible and healing will take place in mind, body, and spirit. Enlightened Recovery Solutions offers a holistic based, 12-step inspired, clinically proven program for alcoholism and co-occurring disorders. Call (844) 234-LIVE today for information on our partial care programs.

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