Learning how to live again
“We learn new ways to live. We are no longer limited to our old ideas.”
Basic Text p. 54
We may or may not have been taught right from wrong and other basics of life as
children. No matter, by the time we found recovery, most of us had only the vaguest
idea of how to live. Our isolation from the rest of society had caused us to ignore
basic human responsibilities and develop bizarre survival skills to cope with the world
we lived in.
Some of us didn’t know how to tell the truth; others were so frank we wounded
everyone we talked to. Some of us couldn’t cope with the simplest of personal
problems, while others attempted solving the problems of the whole world. Some of
us never got angry, even when receiving unfair treatment; others busily lodged
complaints against everyone and everything.
Whatever our problems, no matter how extreme, we all have a chance in Narcotics
Anonymous to learn how to live anew. Perhaps we need to learn kindness and how to
care about others. Perhaps we need to accept personal responsibilities. Or maybe we
need to overcome fear and take some risks. We can be certain of one thing: Each
day, simply by living life, we’ll learn something new.
Just for today: I know more about how to live than I did yesterday, but not as much
as I’ll know tomorrow. Today, I’ll learn something new.