JFT February 17 - Carrying The Message, Not The Addict
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Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
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JFT February 17 - Carrying The Message, Not The Addict
"They can be analyzed, counseled, reasoned with, prayed over, threatened, beaten, or locked up, but they will not stop until they want to stop."
Basic Text, p. 62
Perhaps one of the most difficult truths we must face in our recovery is that we are as powerless over another's addiction as we are over our own. We may think that because we've had a spiritual awakening in our own lives we should be able to persuade another addict to find recovery. But there are limits to what we can do to help another addict.
We cannot force them to stop using. We cannot give them the results of the steps or grow for them. We cannot take away their loneliness or their pain. There is nothing we can say to convince a scared addict to surrender the familiar misery of addiction for the frightening uncertainty of recovery. We cannot jump inside other peoples' skins, shift their goals, or decide for them what is best for them.
However, if we refuse to try to exert this power over another's addiction, we may help them. They may grow if we allow them to face reality, painful though it may be. They may become more productive, by their own definition, as long as we don't try and do it for them. They can become the authority on their own lives, provided we are only authorities on our own. If we can accept all this, we can become what we were meant to be - carriers of the message, not the addict.
Just for today: I will accept that I am powerless not only over my own addiction but also over everyone else's. I will carry the message, not the addict.
pg. 49
Just For Today Daily Meditation is the property of Narcotics Anonymous©
Basic Text, p. 62
Perhaps one of the most difficult truths we must face in our recovery is that we are as powerless over another's addiction as we are over our own. We may think that because we've had a spiritual awakening in our own lives we should be able to persuade another addict to find recovery. But there are limits to what we can do to help another addict.
We cannot force them to stop using. We cannot give them the results of the steps or grow for them. We cannot take away their loneliness or their pain. There is nothing we can say to convince a scared addict to surrender the familiar misery of addiction for the frightening uncertainty of recovery. We cannot jump inside other peoples' skins, shift their goals, or decide for them what is best for them.
However, if we refuse to try to exert this power over another's addiction, we may help them. They may grow if we allow them to face reality, painful though it may be. They may become more productive, by their own definition, as long as we don't try and do it for them. They can become the authority on their own lives, provided we are only authorities on our own. If we can accept all this, we can become what we were meant to be - carriers of the message, not the addict.
Just for today: I will accept that I am powerless not only over my own addiction but also over everyone else's. I will carry the message, not the addict.
pg. 49
Just For Today Daily Meditation is the property of Narcotics Anonymous©
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Charlottesville, Va
Posts: 632
I have to say the men in my area carried this addict. In the rooms they said go home and don't use. I couldn't do that. My roomate was using, my girlfriend was using, I couldn't go home. The addicts carried me after the meetings, they opened their houses to me, they sat with me as I detoxed. The men I have in my life today will do anything for me and the drop of a hat, as I would for them.
Flipside, I have a sponsee who's 20 years old. I can't even fathom getting clean that age to be honest. But, he's 50-50 on staying clean, I can't carry him, it's up to him whether he wants to change that to 51-49 being clean.
Flipside, I have a sponsee who's 20 years old. I can't even fathom getting clean that age to be honest. But, he's 50-50 on staying clean, I can't carry him, it's up to him whether he wants to change that to 51-49 being clean.
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