I had the thing everyone's chasing: money, time, no boss, go anywhere. And I was miserable, because I'd skipped the nine steps under it.
Freedom with no hobbies, no real people and a foggy head isn't freedom — it's just a nicer place to be lost. That's the trap of Step Nine when you take it out of order.
So this time I climb it in order. Sobriety, then a life I enjoy, then the people, then my own head, then the work — and freedom lands at nine because it only means something once the rest is real.