December 26, 2011
A Better Way of Life 0
When we come to the rooms of AA/NA, most of us have hit our bottom. We are completely broken down and have lost just about everything and everyone in our lives. Most, possibly all, of our family members had completely lost hope that we would ever find our way. That we was lost to the disease of addiction. Hiding their purses at family gatherings from fear of us stealing from them. Always watching, making sure the valuables are tucked away completely out of reach to us.
Many of us want out, out of the trapped life we have created for ourselves. Although, if you was like me, I didn’t know how to find it. By the grace of God, a friend introduced me to an AA meeting. I wasn’t exactly ready to get clean at the time but he told me to cmoe anyhow, so I did.
Walking through the door of my first meeting gave me mixed emotions. I was scared, fearful, felt totally out of place and excited all in one. I wasn’t sure what to expect, if anything. Little did I know, that first meeting, the fellowship with other alcoholics and addicts had planted a seed.
Addiction of any kind is a powerful disease. It is a life-threatening disease that only we have the ability to put a halt to. With the guidance of a higher power, the 12 steps, others in recovery and the willingness we can stay sober. AA/NA will show us a new way of life. Working the program and following a few simple suggestions will change our lives for the better. There are millions of people that have proven the program works.
Attending meetings on a regular basis helps keep me sober. The fellowship of those in the rooms is therapeutic to the newcomers. Just knowing that these people are just like us and have the same common problem as we do, yet they stay sober is a relief. When we work through the 12 steps and incorporate them into our daily lives we become spiritually awakened.
By coming into the rooms and working a good program we are taught a new way of life. We are capable of managing our lives again and are taught how to deal with a situation as it arises. We learn through the program from other recovering alcoholics and addicts. They share their stories of experience, strength and hope with us so that we can see that a drug/alcohol free lifestyle is available to us as well. Living one day at a time, sometimes one hour or even one minute at a time is a new concept to us and once we put that into action we realize that it actually works.
Staying off of drugs and alcohol is only a part of the problem. We learn that we must change everything about ourselves in order to maintain a healthy sober lifestyle. We enter back into society as a new person, a better person. We come to lead a productive life. Our families show us trust and love again. As time passes in recovery we become a better person in all areas of our lives. The program and the people of AA/NA give us a new life and puts hope out there for those that are still sick and suffering. We must continue to share our stories so that they too have the ability to have a happy drug and alcohol free life. The AA/Na way is the only way of life for me. Without it, I am a lost person controlled by a substance.
We all have a chance at a better life. If you are sick and tired of being sick and tired go find yourself a meeting and give yourself that chance at a better way of life!!!!!
