Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right. - Henry Ford

"What an order, I can't go through with it".

To many of us, this simple statement sounds all too familiar. We have spent most of our lives making a commitment to our family, our friends, and ourselves to not act out after we are caught or the bubble bursts and we have to face reality. We are sincere in our promise. For a few days or even a few years, we do not act out. We think we can stay sober without the Program and we do--for awhile. But the addict in each of us continually reminds us that we have failed before and we will fail again. We go back to our old way of thinking. We rationalize. We cajole. We often simply delude ourselves. Many of us have a hole in our souls where our strength and resolve is pulled away. The simple concept of staying sober gets overwhelmed. We doubt our resolve. And as soon as that happens, our addict gets a foot into the door of our minds and we inevitably fail. There is one option available to us to keep the thoughts of failure at bay: work the Program. The Program is elegant in its simplicity. It places no unwieldy demands upon us. There is no religion, politics or topics that could lead to dissention. As simple as the Program is, the addict in us can make it the hardest thing we have ever had to do. Keep it simple and you can succeed.

A simple thought is inevitably made complex when an addict gets a hold of it.