hi all.......glad we are here and clean.we all come in here doing the best we know how.my first attempts as a sponsor,i was carrying the mess instead of the message.i was quoting outside litterature in the meetings,because the message i had was borowed,and not mine.i was told by one member,when i brought a big book to an na meeting,that i was bringing a knife to a gunfight.
eventually this guy pissed me off so much,i asked him to sponsor me.
i have nothing against other fellowships.i just know in my heart we took all we needed from them in our basic text.i was over a year clean when this all happened,and i know from that point i became an n.a. member.i feel at home in n.a. now.has anyone else had this experience,or something near this to share?
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dalin a unity means oneity...one god, one fellowship,one sponsor,one program...many gifts
I attend both programs because I qualify. For years i thought I was a dope smoking alcoholic who sometimes snorted crank so he could stay up and drink and smoke. I'd never heard about the disease of addiction To show respect for the programs when I'm at an AA meeting I refer to myself as an Alcoholic and try to keep ty shares to my drinking problem. When I'm at an NA meeting I refer to myself as an Addict and tru not to refer to specfic drugs in my shares. I try to avoid extremist, my first sponsor was pissed at AA because he was at an AA meeting when he was new and was talking about drugs and someone told him that this was an AA meeting if he wanted to talk about drugs he need to go to NA. He did and later said that they did him a favor but he was pissed just the same. There's alot of untreated assholeism in both programs. The programs are in the Big Book and the Basic Text not what some grumpy so called oldtimer says. My $.02, good luck. Bob.
mr cat,that is so hysterical.i live in a small town,came from a city,and the same thing happened to me in an AA meeting- an oldtimer was like "well you are addicted to alcohol right" i also went to NA and spoke to someone in this small town there and she pointed out "yes" this does come up,so i thought ,you know,addiction is addiction,and i chose to gain what i could out of any twelve step meeting,be respectful and not waste my time on relaying to the people that have not come into an age of cross addiction, that its all the same.im still thankful for every soul present in any of those meetings who, like me,is cultivating thier sobriety.its all you can do to hang onto the messege of the twelve steps,and to take what you need.thanks for your point of view- i had to laugh cause that was so recent that came up for me,as well.im new at this,since march,and i feel like i sould be in meetings more,and i took a few hits off my sons friends joint,and felt painfully remorseful and ashamed,mostly because i felt weak and this kid was manipulative and i gave in.it scares me to think of how weak i am,and how ive always felt like a push over.i hate that in me.my sons friend is 17 and i dont like him around,and i feel like im too old for peer pressure,especially from someone who is the NEXT generation after me.i felt foolish.the next day he did the same thing again trying to talk me into taking a few hits off a joint again,and i stopped it.it makes me paranoid and aggravates my depression,and it made me feel like ive let myself down.i havent even drank since last march,even though pills were my drug of choice.i dont like this kid around my son either.i need to take control.any words of strength?thanks.
I remember my first time in treatment. I was sent to an AA mtg, there were about 7 or 8 of us from the center. we were all addicts. when we got there, the "old timers" quickly explained to us that they werent "junkies" LOL. I explained to them I'd never shot up, I was strictly a weed man. I still remember the look on one guys face as he is smokin his cig he tells me about how he was never so weak he fell for that... In the years since, it has only reinforced my belief in denial
When 1 group is better, smarter, stronger than another, I just tell myself, we are all going through the same thing, they are just in denial. And I dont mean in Egypt
i hear you all.i just know i have this wonderfull disease called addiction that shows up in alot of ways.i am in canada,but originally got clean in mississippi,lousiana,and setteled in georgia where the begining of the basic text was put together.
my sponsor,who was the original editor,was here a few months ago.he got a 32 year medallion tonight in atlanta.
i have had good sponsors in n.a.ive had 2 in the other fellowship.i am just glad im a member of the best fellowship for this addict.thank you addicts.cut my wrist i bleed basic text blue.
im just glad we addicts have a place to share.
-- Edited by dalin at 01:00, 2006-07-17
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dalin a unity means oneity...one god, one fellowship,one sponsor,one program...many gifts
hi all.......glad we are here and clean.we all come in here doing the best we know how.my first attempts as a sponsor,i was carrying the mess instead of the message.i was quoting outside litterature in the meetings,because the message i had was borowed,and not mine.i was told by one member,when i brought a big book to an na meeting,that i was bringing a knife to a gunfight. eventually this guy pissed me off so much,i asked him to sponsor me. i have nothing against other fellowships.i just know in my heart we took all we needed from them in our basic text.i was over a year clean when this all happened,and i know from that point i became an n.a. member.i feel at home in n.a. now.has anyone else had this experience,or something near this to share?
Hi there fellow members! Love to all the fellowship every where. I had a sponsor that had 19 years when I met her, it was always told to me that I should look for someone that I identified with. Little did I know that it was the disease in me that identified with her. I just recently found out that she is and has been using for the last year! It was a real devasting thing when I first found out, and finally my sponsor and I had that truthful conversation when she admitted it to me. I was crushed, no I didn't go out but I was close! Thats why I know now that a support group is so important, I only had my sponsor as a support system, that fell apart when I found out about her using. Now looking back I realize that it was a blessing that has led me down another road in my recovery to a new connection to my HIGHER POWER, HE will never let me down with no place to land! Now I have a large support group of numerous women in recovery. So the lesson here is that people may let you down and that sometimes they will, but our HIGHER POWER will not! After all we are all walking evidence of a POWER greater than ourselves, we are still here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rock on NA! Keep it Real!
Sometimes it is important to practice what we preach. In the meetings we ask newcomers to look for similarities and ignore the differences. I do the same when it comes to AA and NA, both are 12 step recovery programs and I don't need to explain the roots of either because most know. The longer I have clean the more tolerance I am able to practice.
I myself has been very fortunate to get all of my recovery in NA. I came from a state where there are many meeting at all times of the day. I believe what I love about NA is we address the disease of addiction, We do not care what or what much you used. Alcohol is a drug.
I also realize that not every one is as lucky as I was early in my recovery. As long as you respcect each programs primary purpose. I have been around the rooms for a little while now and there is nothing that really gets under my skin as someone introducing themselves as an addict alcoholic, this is redundent. Go and do what every works for you, just show each program the respect they deserve and have earned
yea,i was going to any place that ended with an a my first year.if i went to every program i qualifyed for.......hell there arent enough days in the week....my disease has alot of tentacles.
just what ever works for you do it.
i am just glad i dont need to slice and dice my disease today.unity just kicks it in for me.just stay clean.
and as i have said,this isnt to insult anyone.we have a disease that does that fine.i am just glad to have na where we can get real with THIS DISEASE
-- Edited by dalin at 18:57, 2006-07-20
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dalin a unity means oneity...one god, one fellowship,one sponsor,one program...many gifts
I'm very active in both AA and NA... have been for 16 1/2 years.
Never got high at an AA meeting nor drunk at a NA meeting...
I believe its all the same diease, with the same solution... the 12 Steps based on Spiritual Principles.
I speak as a speaker in both fellowships..when at a NA meeting I will intro myself as "My name is John, I am a addict.... that probably drank a bit too much too." And at a AA meeting I will intro myself as "My name is John, an alcoholic... who probably did too many drugs as well."
See, my diease does not discriminate... it didn't care what I put in my body as long as it changed the way I felt.
My recovery doesn't discriminate either... I don't care which 12 Step group I align myself with as long as I don't pick up... one more day
NA is one of many valuable tools I use each day... its not the sole tool, nor is it the most important tool... my Higher Power is.
i can relate.i just found my recovery in na.i went well into getting involved in the folks that were big in na history,and havent made an aa meeting in 9 years.
i know aa has a lot of recovery.but this is an na message board.
i got clean with some of the oldtimers who wrote alot of our literature.my grand sponsor has the most cleantime in this deal,my sponsor 32 years.those are the guys i learned about the steps from.
i sponsor 8 guys now,and we do the steps the way my old sponsor,the traditions[which he wrote in a six hour phone conversation in putting together the basic text]the way he taught me.
we usually dont do the stepguide or the soon to be written tradition guide untill i know they have a working understanding of the steps and traditions.
thanx all
-- Edited by dalin at 12:10, 2006-07-27
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dalin a unity means oneity...one god, one fellowship,one sponsor,one program...many gifts
