Step Two – Principle 3 of 5: Restoration to Sanity

Step Two – Principle 3 of 5: Restoration to Sanity

“…could restore us to sanity.”

👁️ 1. What It Means on the Surface

Sanity in AA doesn’t mean perfection. It means clarity, peace, and freedom from the obsessive thinking that fuels addiction—and the lies that cover it up. It’s the return to soundness of mind: the ability to live without chaos, shame, or self-deception.

It’s not about becoming a saint. It’s about becoming stable. It’s about waking up without dread, making decisions without panic, and not needing to plan your life around the purchase, storage, consumption, and disposal of empty bottles. It’s about facing life without needing to escape it.

Sanity is the ability to live in reality without needing to distort it.

 

⚠️ 2. Traps

• It’s Not Saying You’re “Criminally Insane”

When AA talks about “sanity,” it’s not suggesting you belong in a padded cell or that you’re a danger to society. But the word insanity does carry baggage. It brings to mind images from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, or even Sir Anthony Hopkins—an openly sober AA member—playing Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. This isn’t about how you pair fava beans and chianti.

AA is pointing to something far more subtle—and far more personal. It’s saying that the life of an alcoholic is far from sane. You and I have worked overtime to justify our behaviors, but no amount of justification makes them true. As page 30 of the Big Book puts it:

“The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.”

Normal people don’t obsessively plan their lives around alcohol. They don’t lie to themselves and others just to keep drinking. That’s not sanity. That’s survival mode. And it’s exhausting.

• The “I’ll Know I’m Sane When I’m Happy” Trap

Sanity isn’t the same as happiness. It’s the ability to feel pain without being consumed by it. It’s the ability to sit with discomfort without needing a drink to numb it.

This trap runs deep for recovering alcoholics—and for anyone living with dissatisfaction. In AA, it often shows up as “I’ll be happy when I move to Melbourne…” These are called “geographics.” Tasmania, with its natural beauty and low population, becomes a beacon for recovering addicts fleeing the temptations of big cities. But it never works. The root causes—self-will run riot and the cunning, baffling, powerful, and patient voice of The Adversary—follow you wherever you go.

Some people don’t even make it out of the airport—the only place in the world where it’s socially acceptable to drink at any hour. And when they do arrive in Tasmania or Hawaii, they find bottle shops everywhere, often more accessible than in the cities.

I was mostly happy while drinking. But the lead-up required insane behaviors: demand planning, logistics, stock levels, disposal techniques, appearing sober at the right moment, and avoiding others so I could drink myself into oblivion.

The only link between happiness and sanity is this: if you stop the insane behaviors and practice sane ones, you become happy. Sanity is the cause. Happiness is the effect. It doesn’t work the other way around. You can’t catch the happy ball until the quarterback has sanely thrown it to you. And in this analogy, you’re both the quarterback and the receiver.

• The “I’m Already Sane” Trap

This is the voice of denial. If your life is ruled by compulsive behavior, broken relationships, or emotional chaos, sanity hasn’t been restored yet. Step Two asks you to be honest about that.

All addicts fall into this trap. That’s the power of the mystical Adversary. It’s cunning, baffling, powerful—and patient. It’s out to kill you. It convinces you to lie to yourself and others, drink, and repeat.

When I first went to AA, I was still lying about morning drinking. I thought if I admitted it, they’d think I was insane. So I lied—to myself and to other alcoholics—to preserve a reputation that didn’t even exist. The Adversary whispered, “It’s better to keep lying.”

I managed this by phasing out the lie gradually, like a bus slowing down at the bottom of a hill. By week three, I admitted to morning drinking on weekends. By week five, I admitted to weekday drinking around 10am. Eventually, I came clean: I was waking up early to stop the physical pain of the DTs and drinking vodka between 6:00 and 6:30am just to survive the day.

 

🕳️ 3. Pitfalls

• Mistaking Insight for Recovery

Understanding your patterns is helpful—but it’s not the same as healing. You can know why you drink and still keep drinking. Sanity comes when insight leads to change.

If you put a void between understanding and action, you become your own armchair critic. You know those keyboard warriors who have all the answers after the fact? When you become your own version of that—passively observing your own destruction—you’re not just stuck. You’re insane.

• Expecting Sanity to Arrive Overnight

Restoration is a process. It’s not a lightning bolt—it’s a slow rewiring. You may feel moments of clarity early on, but full restoration takes time, consistency, and support.

A more soulful way to look at it: there is no final destination. Sanity is a lifetime journey, walking with your Higher Power down the road of powerlessness, surrender, and self-discovery.

• Measuring Sanity by External Success

Sanity isn’t about your bank balance, job title, or social status. It’s about your internal state. You can be broke and sane. You can be wealthy and insane. Don’t confuse the two.

I fell into this trap every single day. If I got good outcomes for clients or received praise or material rewards, I’d think, “Well, I can’t be that bad.” I even gave it a label: “I’m a high-functioning alcoholic—so what’s your point?”

 

🔮 4. Spiritual Angles

• Sanity as Spiritual Alignment

Sanity is the result of spiritual alignment—when your thoughts, actions, and values begin to harmonize. It’s when your inner world stops fighting itself.

• Sanity as Grace

You don’t earn sanity. You receive it. It’s a gift that comes when you surrender control and trust something greater than yourself.

• Sanity as Connection

Isolation breeds insanity. Connection—whether with a Higher Power, the fellowship, or your own truth—is what restores you. Sanity is relational, not just rational.

That’s why I believe the ground-zero behavioral change to begin restoring sanity is to get out into the world and collide with people. And by “collide,” I mean divine intervention, serendipity, and the pursuit of luck.

Stick with your family and friends—they’ve been loyal even if you’ve been ostracised. But interact with them differently. With empathy. Do different things. Learn something about them you didn’t know. Tell them something about yourself they didn’t know.

Hang out with oddballs. Help people. Spend time with people of different creeds, careers, hobbies, and personalities. Join a dance group. Coach your kid’s soccer team. Take a painting class. Enrol in philosophy. Go to Bible study. Buy a fishing rod.

Whatever it is—just collide. Bounce off people. Interact differently. That’s where sanity begins.

PART IV

A strong advocate for freedom, limited government, and enterprise-driven progress, Jason also draws deeply from his personal recovery journey—an experience that reshaped his life and fuels his commitment to growth, contribution, and principled living. Through writing, speaking, and service, he continues to learn, share, and speak with purpose.

I can be engaged (on a remunerated or volunteer basis) to sit on Boards, Committees, Advisory and Reference Group Panels, and to speak to Business, Community, and Youth groups. I’m also open to providing comment to media on topics where I have relevant experience or insight. Please feel free to make contact.