From isolation to connection
“Our disease isolated us… Hostile, resentful, self-centered, and self-seeking, we cut
ourselves off from the outside world.”
Basic Text p. 3-4
Addiction is an isolating disease, closing us off from society, family, and self. We hid.
We lied. We scorned the lives we saw others living, surely beyond our grasp. Worst
of all, we told ourselves there was nothing wrong with us, even though we knew we
were desperately ill. Our connection with the world, and with reality itself, was
severed. Our lives lost meaning, and we withdrew further and further from reality.
The NA program is designed especially for people like us. It helps reconnect us to the
life we were meant to live, drawing us out of our isolation. We stop lying to ourselves
about our condition; we admit our powerlessness and the unmanageability of our
lives. We develop faith that our lives can improve, that recovery is possible, and that
happiness is not permanently beyond our grasp. We get honest; we stop hiding; we
“show up and tell the truth” no matter what. And as we do, we establish the ties that
connect our individual lives to the larger life around us.
We addicts need not live lives of isolation. The Twelve Steps can restore our
connection to life and living-if we work them.
Just for today: I am a part of the life around me. I will practice my program to
strengthen my connection to my world.