"Complacency is the enemy of members with substantial clean time. If we remain complacent for long, the recovery process ceases."
Basic Text, p. 84
After the first couple of years in recovery, most of us start to feel like there are no more big deals. If we've been diligent in working the steps, the past is largely resolved and we have a solid foundation on which to build our future. We've learned to take life pretty much as it comes. Familiarity with the steps allows us to resolve problems almost as quickly as they arise.
Once we discover this level of comfort, we may tend to treat it as a "rest stop" on the recovery path. Doing so, however, discounts the nature of our disease. Addiction is patient, subtle, progressive, and incurable. It's also fatal - we can die from this disease, unless we continue to treat it. And the treatment for addiction is a vital, ongoing program of recovery.
The Twelve Steps are a process, a path we take to stay a step ahead of our disease. Meetings, sponsorship, service, and the steps always remain essential to ongoing recovery. Though we may practice our program somewhat differently with five years clean than with five months, this doesn't mean the program has changed or become less important, only that our practical understanding has changed and grown. To keep our recovery fresh and vital, we need to stay alert for opportunities to practice our program.
Just for Today: As I keep growing in my recovery, I will search for new ways to practice my program.
["Complacency is the enemy of members with substantial clean time.] Just for today we will not be complacent in our search for knowlage of the na traditions, Just for today we will try to move forward in our search for freedom. Just for today we will try to accept the na traditions as they are written, Just for today we give thanks to na for opening our minds to the freedom of the na traditions.
Hey Don! I find the beginning of this statement very sobering..says We can neverfully recover no matter how long we stay clean!! This is a life long process of working our principles as we know this illness manifests itself it "all" areas of our lives!! Man if that aint the joint!!
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Our purpose is to remain clean,just for today,and to carry the message of recovery.
