Recovery”
“Narcotics Anonymous offers addicts a program of recovery that is more than just a
life without drugs. Not only is this way of life better than the hell we lived, it is better
than any life that we have ever known.”
Basic Text p. 103
Few of us have any interest in “recovering” what we had before we started using.
Many of us suffered severely from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Getting
high and staying high seemed like the only possible way to cope with such abuse.
Others suffered in less noticeable but equally painful ways before addiction took
hold. We lacked direction and purpose. We were spiritually empty. We felt isolated,
unable to empathize with others. We had none of the things that give life its sense
and value. We took drugs in a vain attempt to fill the emptiness inside ourselves.
Most of us wouldn’t want to “recover” what we used to have.
Ultimately, the recovery we find in NA is something different: a chance at a new life.
We’ve been given tools to clear the wreckage from our lives. We’ve been given
support in courageously setting forth on a new path. And we’ve been given the gift of
conscious contact with a Power greater than ourselves, providing us with the inner
strength and direction we so sorely lacked in the past.
Recovering? Yes, in every way. We’re recovering a whole new life, better than
anything we ever dreamed possible. We are grateful.
Just for today: I’ve recovered something I never had, something I never imagined
possible: the life of a recovering addict. Thank you, Higher Power, in more than
words can say.