The Stoics distinguished between the humility that diminishes and the humility that clarifies.
Humility is often misunderstood as self-diminishment, making yourself small, thinking poorly of yourself, deferring to others. The Stoics meant something different. Humility, for them, was an accurate perception of your place in the larger order. Not smaller than you are. Not larger. Accurate.
Epictetus was not gentle about self-deception. His version of humility was almost demanding: stop pretending you are something you are not, in either direction. Stop performing virtue you have not yet developed. Stop hiding from the virtue you could develop. See yourself clearly. Start there.
This kind of humility is actually a prerequisite for growth. If you have an inflated view of your own wisdom or willpower, you will not seek help where you need it. If you have a deflated view, you will not attempt what is actually within your reach. Accurate self-perception is the foundation of everything.
"How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?"
Epictetus, Discourses
Asking, humbly, for shortcomings to be removed is an act that acknowledges two things simultaneously: that you have shortcomings, and that they are not permanent features of who you are. Both parts matter.
The person in recovery who has done the inventory and shared it is in a position to see their patterns clearly. Step 7 asks them to take that clarity and orient it toward change, with the humility to know that the change will require help, time, practice, and the willingness to fail and try again.
The Stoic phrase that fits here is: begin. Not be perfect. Not arrive. Begin. Do the next right thing. Then the next. Humility means knowing that character development is long and incremental and never complete, and choosing to begin anyway.
Write down one shortcoming that you have been most resistant to acknowledging. Not the most dramatic one. The one you have been least willing to name honestly. Then write: what would it look like to ask for help with exactly this, specifically and without conditions?