NA JUST FOR TODAY - NOVEMBER 2014

[MajestyJo]

November 16, 2014

Alone no more

Page 334

"We gradually and carefully pull ourselves out of the isolation and loneliness of addiction and into the mainstream of life."

Basic Text p. 35

Many of us spent much of our using time alone, avoiding other people-especially people who were not using-at all costs. After years of isolation, trying to find a place for ourselves in a bustling, sometimes boisterous fellowship is not always easy. We may still feel isolated, focusing on our differences rather than our similarities. The overwhelming feelings that often arise in early recovery-feelings of fear, anger, and mistrust-can also keep us isolated. We may feel like aliens but we must remember, the alienation is ours, not NA's.

In Narcotics Anonymous, we are offered a very special opportunity for friendship. We are brought together with people who understand us like no one else can. We are encouraged to share with these people our feelings, our problems, our triumphs, and our failures. Slowly, the recognition and identification we find in NA bridge the lonely gap of alienation in our hearts. As we've heard it said-the program works, if we let it.

Just for Today: The friendship of other members of the fellowship is a life-sustaining gift. I will reach out for the friendship that's offered in NA, and accept it.

Will never forget the day I lost my little black book of telephone numbers that I had gotten from members in the program. I was sure I was going to relapse without them. I has this overwhelming fear, that without them, because I just knew I couldn't do it on my own. I was very fortunate, another time my God looked after me. I was living with an alcoholic and she had copied most of my telephone numbers into her phone directory and I was able to retrieve most of them. Phone #s and the fellowship of the program were there for me when I couldn't be there for myself. My God put some wonderful people in my life.