Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   September 9                                                   Feet of clay

     "One of the biggest stumbling blocks to recovery seems to be placing
                   unrealistic expectations on... others."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 78

                           ----=----

   Many of us come into Narcotics Anonymous feeling pretty poorly about
   ourselves.  By comparison, the recovering addicts we meet at meetings may
   seem almost superhumanly serene.   These wise, loving people have many
   months, even years of living in accordance with spiritual principles,
   giving of themselves to others without expecting anything back.  We trust
   them, allowing them to love us until we can love ourselves.  We expect
   them to make everything alright again.

   Then the glow of early recovery begins to fade, and we start to see the
   human side of our NA friends and sponsor.  Perhaps a fellow member of our
   home group stands us up for a coffee date, or we see two oldtimers
   bickering at a committee meeting, or we realize our sponsor has a defect
   of character or two.  We're crushed, disillusioned-these recovering
   addicts aren't perfect after all!   How can we possibly trust them
   anymore?

   Somewhere between "the heroes of recovery" and "the lousy NA bums"
   lies the truth:   Our fellow addicts are neither completely bad nor
   completely good.  After all, if they were perfect, they wouldn't need
   this program.  Our friends and sponsor are ordinary recovering addicts,
   just like we are.  We can relate to their ordinary recovery experience and
   use it in our own program.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:  My friends and my sponsor are human, just like me-and I
   trust their experience all the more for that.