The further you go in the 12 Steps, the harder they get. So much of the early work is internal. You've made your moral inventory. You've confessed your shortcomings before God and a trusted person. You've become willing to ask God to remove your character defects. That's all deeply personal, often painful work done mostly in private. But Steps 8 and 9? Now we go public. Step 8: We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. Step 9: