The way to remain a productive, responsible member of society is to put our recovery first.
Basic Text, p. 106
=
The meetings have been great! Each night weve attended, weve gathered with other addicts to share experience, strength, and hope. And each day, weve used what weve learned in the meetings to continue in our recovery.
Meanwhile, life goes on. Work, family, friends, school, sport, entertainment, community activities, civic obligationsall call out for our time. The demands of everyday living sometimes make us ask ourselves, How long do I have to go to these meetings?
Lets think about this. Before coming to Narcotics Anonymous, could we stay clean on our own? What makes us think we can now? Then theres the disease itself to considerthe chronic self-centeredness, the obsessiveness, the compulsive behavior patterns that express themselves in so many areas of our lives. Can we live and enjoy life without effective treatment for our disease? No.
Ordinary people may not have to worry about such things, but were not ordinary peoplewere addicts. We cant pretend we dont have a fatal, progressive illness, because we do. Without our program, we may not survive to worry about the demands of work, school, family, or anything else. NA meetings give us the support and direction we need to recover from our addiction, allowing us to live the fullest lives possible.
=
Just for today: I want to live and enjoy life. To do that, I will put my recovery first.
I enjoy going to meetings. I don't get into the mindset of thinking about how long I HAVE to go. I want to go. Meetings are an important part of my life, along with work, family etc.
My sponsor has been going for some 16 years now....not because she HAS to to be clean but because she believes in helping others and it has become her family ...all of us!
You can only keep what you have by giving it away. Alot of us...me, my sponsor and many others I know, have been clean yet NOT been in recovery at times. You will know it too. Your spirituality will be at its minimal, and you will just feel "off" She told me a year ago that I was in a relapse, but I hadnt done any drugs! SHe could tell that my relationship with my higher power was at best minimal. Just by the way I talked!
These meetings are more than a place to go to stay clean. They are a place where we bond with people, we learn to give and not to just take as when we were using, and we make forever friends and family. I know from my experience that the more I do to help with ANYTHING that needs to be done the better I feel about me. The easiere it is to forget all about frugs and just enjoy life!
we have other obligations too.Priorities are important in a recovery program. My friends and family that helped me get where I am are high on that list! You dont HAVE to live there, 5 or 7 fays a week like we need to in the beg, but reaching out to other addicts who need us is what this program was founded upon.It needs us "old timers"
Going to meetings helps me deal with life on life's terms. I can almost always hear something I can use to help that day. Meetings also help me get a better perspective on life (an attitude adjustment). Going to meetings allows me to share with others and give back to NA some of what I have been freely given.
Hey Dave! Recvery and Relapse says it best"Progression of recovery is a continuous uphill journey,without effort we start the down hill run again,the progression of the disease is ongoing,EVEN DURING ABSTINENCE!.That surely keeps me aware of daily work and effort to keep my recovery moving forward to have the best possible life,through God's grace ,that I can.....A new way to live through the program of Narcotics Anonymous...........
__________________
Our purpose is to remain clean,just for today,and to carry the message of recovery.
I can only speak from experience, but usually when someone is thinking," for how long."...it is because they are not thinking on what they should be thinking.
oops...there goes that stinkin-thinkin again.
we should always be mindful of what we are discussing within our brains. Without being conscientious of our thoughts...we might be setting ourselves up for defeat to our illness.
Glad to see that you are putting it out there in discussion. I truly believe that through being open about what we feel, what we think...this allows others to see we are not unique. Most of us experience the same, and some just better at getting us to talk about it. Thanks Dave....
...
