Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded on the idea of giving your life and your will over to a higher power. The idea is that this higher power will relieve you of the burden of alcoholism, letting you focus on living life sober. Early sobriety can be difficult enough on its own, but it can be a lot harder if drinking is still always on your mind. For a lot of people, this concept of a higher power is simply God. A common story you hear in AA is that someone used to go to church a lot and believed that God was a big part of their life, but this story changed as the person started to drink heavily. When this person quits drinking and starts going to AA meetings, they turn once again to God and start going to church again. And this higher power works for a number of people. For others, the question of a higher power isn't so simple. Many people either do not believe in God or are unsure if God exists, making the 12 step program and its dependence on a higher power very difficult for these people. I know this to be true because I was one of these people. Personally, the question of a higher power gave me a lot of trouble when I first began attending AA meetings. I believed in the possibility of God but deep down I could not fully accept this idea, which made the idea of turning