NA continues to blow my mind. Last night was the best meeting so far. There were 15 of us, 12 of which were in my age range and half of those appeared to be professional. If course they all may, just judging the book by the cover, even though my cover didn't look professional.
There were easily 3 sponsor opportunities, which says a lot. Those are people I can connect with easily and respect what they say or suggest.
The concept overall is amazing. The first 10min or so, people read statements/daily reminders: what is NA, the steps to freedom, why we are there, recovery is possible, and a few more.
Then there's a topic that might be from a pamphlet, or book, or there might be a chosen speaker who shares their experience.
Of course the topic is always informative and eye opening. Afterwards, everyone takes a turn to share about that subject.
Last night, for example, we read a page and a half from a book "living clean" or something like that. The topic was about staying to the main principles (of NA in this case), sharing, and the newbie being the most important person in a room as they teach or remind the Vets to most.
15 people shared their views on what it was like early on for them and how much they've grown, or how important the principles are to them and is the glue that holds it all together.
One guy talked about giving his number out. He's probably 60yrs old and clean for over 30 years. He said he learns the most from those who call him and begged people to call him any time...for his own sake. Really put it in perspective as we tend to not want to bother others with our issues.
Another guy shared how he fights thinking he knows all the answers, or how to solve his problems because nobody other than himself knows what he has to struggle with or understand them as well. He's 30 days clean after having 4 years clean before. He stopped going because he thought he knew it all.
Another guy, who appeared to be very smart, shared his much better his life has been once he fully accepted he doesn't know the answers, and NA serves as a reminder because he too learns something every time. He said amazing things happen when you open your mind to learning rather than closing the door because you know it all.
One lady said something powerful.... That addiction is a dis-ease. It's a dis-ease of feelings and to be at ease, we need to give up the grip we have on our feelings and felt the 12 steps were specifically addressing feelings like love, forgiveness, getting over regret, etc.
Look at your own experiences here. We are just a small group and all along the way, we shared our experience with a slightly different perspective. The sum of those views is what each of us observed and grew from.
IDK....
It's awesome is all I can say. I wish I had gone earlier because I'm seeing that I've been living an addict lifestyle since I was 15 or so without any time off. I might have been off drugs for years at a time, but the core addictive behaviors and thought processes were alive and strong.