"Hopeless living problems have become joyously changed. Our disease has been arrested, and now anything is possible."
Basic Text p.102
The NA program has given us more freedom than we ever dreamed possible. Sometimes, though, in the daily routine, we lose track of how much we've been given. How, exactly, have our lives changed in Narcotics Anonymous?
The bottom line of recovery, of course, is freedom from the compulsion to use. No longer must we devote all our resources to feeding our addiction. No longer must we endanger, humiliate, or abuse ourselves or others just to get the next "fix:' Abstinence itself has brought great freedom to our lives.
Narcotics Anonymous has given us much more than simple abstinence-we've been given a whole new life. We've taken our inventory and have identified the defects of character that bound us for so long, keeping us from living and enjoying life. We've surrendered those shortcomings, taken responsibility for them, and sought the direction and power we need to live differently. Our home group has given us the personal warmth and support that helps us continue living in recovery. And topping all this off, we have the love, care, and guidance of the God we've come to understand in NA.
In the course of day-to-day recovery, we sometimes forget how much our lives have changed in Narcotics Anonymous. Do we fully appreciate what our program has given us?
Just for Today: Recovery has given me freedom. I will greet the day with hope, grateful that anything is possible today.
Hangin on....I've quit many times before. I deluded myself that it was not mood altering (not a narcotic)....I hate that I can no longer say I've been clean, but I'm just looking forward now. Your message was a balm!! I've been working in my yard so had a pretty easy day.
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I think people are full of guile.....I enjoy that.
Nikky I quit a few times too, but this time is about 20 years. It's a mind game. Remember you're not the voices in your head, you're the poor s.o.b. that has to listen them lol. So when you mind (not your friend) says "a cigarette would taste soooo good right now" you have to talk back and so "no it won't you lie" and "I'm not smoking anymore because I want to live!" and positive stuff like that till the voice goes away. lol You can do it.
Hi Nikky, I also have quit many times. Usually after a few weeks or months, a time would come when, as Dean said, my mind would tell me that a cigarette would taste really good, I haven't had one in ___ amount of time, ONE won't hurt, etc. I would bum one, then the next day I would bum another one, then my ego wouldn't let me keep bumming so I would buy a pack and let someone else keep them and just give me one a day....right. In a week I would be smoking a pack a day again, or more! What I was able to take from the program was that "It's the FIRST drug that starts the deadly cycle all over again." (my caps) As long as I don't smoke that first cigarette, I never have to worry about a pack a day. I quit this time the day after I had one year clean from dope. (I didn't change my clean date, I think that's a personal choice and I applaud you for it) Today I have been tobacco free for 4 yrs 5 months. I know if I can do it, anybody can. Good Luck!
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"With a sweet tongue of kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair." ~Persian Proverb
Yeah, I didn't want to include nic-o-tine as a high....for some it might not be, but for me....it's gotta go. My first sponsor, long-since gone to Colorado, has come back to me in my dreams....I've had all kinds of sponsors since her, but she was COMPLETELY clean. When I saw her in my dreams again, I knew it was time. Holding on is easy when I know I belong...you've gone there too, I can follow
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I think people are full of guile.....I enjoy that.
I cannot express how greatful I really am for having the obsession and compulsion to use gone . I had a friend once who was a crack addict also and he stopped and he told me that he had 2 years once and I asked " How did you get the obsession to use to go away" he told me he started working a program and going to meetings and sharing and that he had just gotten sick and tired enough.
That gave me HOPE just enough to not give up and keep on trying it was a few years later that I did get clean for some time but relapsed I had more to learn about myself and my addiction.
Some of us get this through the educational variety , we get schooled we get fooled but we finally learn and get on with life without be harrassed by this addiction LOL but it was a long road getting here for a lot of us, enjoy the day.
I'm glad you shared that BigV....it's definitely a process, not perfect. I recently stopped listening to my old favorite music....too much euphoric recall, bad dreams....so now I listen only to classical, gentle music and I can feel a big difference. I really had to think about what it means for me to "lay down with dogs" When I started using when I was 11, I would TRY anything I was told would get me high...now, I'll try ANYTHING that works for keeping us clean and sane.
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I think people are full of guile.....I enjoy that.
