I was extremely resistant to NA. I was not going to get involved with some outdated zombie mind-control god cult.
Turns out I had very little idea what I was talking about and listened to people who had very little grasp of what the steps of AA/NA are about.
I think NA got it right in the wording of the first step, but most in AA tend to mean that they are powerless over their alcohol-ism, just as we in NA say we are powerless over our addiction. - What does that mean? As a wise young lady I know sometimes says "I can choose when to participate with my disease, but once I do that, I don't always get to choose when to stop." I can't use just one. Likewise, I can't become "not an addict". The step says nothing about not being able to treat it. I just can't remove it. I'm powerless over the fact that my thinking and gut level reactions are sometimes way off, but that doesn't mean I can't "treat" that and learn to take a second to realize that my perspective is off, nor does it mean that I have to act on impulse. Recovery is possible.
Step Six says nothing about being a moral failure. I've taken a good look at how some of the ways that I navigate life (arrogance, escapism, laziness, lying, self-righteousness, etc) harm myself and others. I no longer want the results that engaging in those behaviors produces.
Steps 8 and 9 don't talk about apologizing for drinking. They talk about becoming willing to make amends, and making them as long as they don't harm other people. Some people I won't harm by bringing up specifics about the past. Likewise, some of the biggest amends I make to people are by not using and changing my behavior over the long haul. - Sick or not, we made messes, and grownups clean up their messes. As my sponsor told me, "we aren't responsible for our actions when actively using, but we are accountable for them".
Last but not least. I think the matter of starting your sobriety or clean time at day one after using is about honesty and accountability. Sure, it seems like a reasonable thing to say you've been sober for two years except for a couple of slips. - Imagine having had affairs in the past and reconciling with your significant other. Then imagine telling them that you haven't had any affairs in the past two years except for a couple of "slips", the last one being when you slept with someone else last week. But you have two years since you had an affair, right?