Can we first agree on the steps?
1) Admitted we were powerless over hiking, that our lives had become unmanageable (if we cannot go hiking things tend towards being less manageable, so I for one will continue to participate in my addition).
2) Came to believe that a "Power Greater than Ourselves" could restore us to sanity (that's exactly why I go hiking, restore me to "sanity").
3) Made a decision to turn our lives over to the care of "God" as we understand God - (he understands me quite nicely, he allows me to go anywhere in the wilderness I want to go, I'm responsible to get myself out
).
4) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves - (everytime I'm out there I become more human).
5) Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs - (I'll admit I want to keep coming back everyday but I have to work sometime).
6) Were entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character - (I'm entierly ready but I still need to be able to hike so please only remove the "defects" that have "No Character" - you know the ones, you say hi to them on the trail and they just "grunt" as they go by acting like you interupted their bad day
)
7) Humbly asked God to remove our "shortcomings" - (God please allow me to get more people on the trail and continue to help others be safe while they hike/climb)
8) Made a list of persons we had harmed and became willing to make an amends to them all - (Ok, Fight On I'm sorry I thought you were a complete knucklehead, only you can prove me wrong
)
9) Made direct amends to people whenever possible except when to do so would injure them or others - (see the end of step #8).
10) Continued to take personal inventory when we were wrong we promptly admitted it - (I'll admitt I was wrong "Once" but then I remembered that I was wrong about being wrong
)
11) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out - (Hiking for me is a form of praying and God's will for me is easier to understand every time I'm on the trail. I find that I'm to be kind and coutesous to other hikers, be of service to them all)
12) Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to (other hikers) addicts, and to practice these steps in all of our affairs - (I've had a spiritual awekening on more than one summit, that's why I continue to go and encourage others to do likewise)
I'm not making fun of the idea, I do suffer from a "Hiking Addiction" but I find it very rewarding to bring "recovery" from other "additions" out on the mountains everytime that I'm out there. As we say in recovery it's "one step at a time" (which describes hiking to the "tee") and in this case you could say "One Hike at a time"
In my case I hope I'm a life long sufferer of the "Hiking Addiction", it's brought so many good things into my life, fun times, good people, great places, a new respect for the flora and funna and a chance to give back to those that lead the way to the harder summits, let alone the opportunity to help those that would never venture out there.
If you ever start a meeting - I will be glad to attend - "Hikers Annonymous" it would be a great "Fellowship" - count me in.
