JFT December 14
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 2,274
JFT December 14
December 14
Addiction, drugs, and recovery
“Addiction is a physical, mental, and spiritual disease that affects every area of our lives.”
Basic Text, p. 20
––––=––––
Before we started using, most of us had a stereotype, a mental image of what addicts were supposed to look like. Some of us pictured a junkie robbing convenience markets for drug money. Others imagined a paranoid recluse peering at life from behind perpetually drawn drapes and locked doors. As long as we didn’t fit any of the stereotypes, we thought, we couldn’t be addicts.
As our using progressed, we discarded those misconceptions about addiction, only to come up with another: the idea that addiction was about drugs. We may have thought addiction meant a physical habit, believing any drug that didn’t produce physical habituation was not “addictive.” Or we thought the drugs we took were causing all our problems. We thought that merely getting rid of the drugs would restore sanity to our lives.
One of the most important lessons we learn in Narcotics Anonymous is that addiction is much more than the drugs we used. Addiction is a part of us; it’s an illness that involves every area of our lives, with or without drugs. We can see its effects on our thoughts, our feelings, and our behavior, even after we stop using. Because of this, we need a solution that works to repair every area of our lives: the Twelve Steps.
––––=––––
Just for today: Addiction is not a simple disease, but it has a simple solution. Today, I will live in that solution: the Twelve Steps of recovery.
Addiction, drugs, and recovery
“Addiction is a physical, mental, and spiritual disease that affects every area of our lives.”
Basic Text, p. 20
––––=––––
Before we started using, most of us had a stereotype, a mental image of what addicts were supposed to look like. Some of us pictured a junkie robbing convenience markets for drug money. Others imagined a paranoid recluse peering at life from behind perpetually drawn drapes and locked doors. As long as we didn’t fit any of the stereotypes, we thought, we couldn’t be addicts.
As our using progressed, we discarded those misconceptions about addiction, only to come up with another: the idea that addiction was about drugs. We may have thought addiction meant a physical habit, believing any drug that didn’t produce physical habituation was not “addictive.” Or we thought the drugs we took were causing all our problems. We thought that merely getting rid of the drugs would restore sanity to our lives.
One of the most important lessons we learn in Narcotics Anonymous is that addiction is much more than the drugs we used. Addiction is a part of us; it’s an illness that involves every area of our lives, with or without drugs. We can see its effects on our thoughts, our feelings, and our behavior, even after we stop using. Because of this, we need a solution that works to repair every area of our lives: the Twelve Steps.
––––=––––
Just for today: Addiction is not a simple disease, but it has a simple solution. Today, I will live in that solution: the Twelve Steps of recovery.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 2,274
Yes, addiction is part of who I am. Take away the drugs, and you have an addict who is not using drugs. Even though I haven't used drugs in a while, I still have the same traits that led me to use drugs addictively.
Evolving Addict
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York State
Posts: 3,067
Unfortunately, there's still a lot of us who believe it's all about the dope. When you mention the word addiction their minds immediately conjure up that fix, pill or drink.
I hear ya Freddie. Lol!! I used to think the same thing. Now I understand that getting clean and staying clean isn't the hardest parts of recovery - the toughest challenge I face is changing those old ideas, attitudes and behaviors that represent the ultimate problem: ME.
Today I'm not hopeless, helpless or suffering...but I'm also not cured, recovered or delivered. I'm an addict who is recovering, evolving, changing and growing...thanks to the 12 steps of NA.
G
I hear ya Freddie. Lol!! I used to think the same thing. Now I understand that getting clean and staying clean isn't the hardest parts of recovery - the toughest challenge I face is changing those old ideas, attitudes and behaviors that represent the ultimate problem: ME.
Today I'm not hopeless, helpless or suffering...but I'm also not cured, recovered or delivered. I'm an addict who is recovering, evolving, changing and growing...thanks to the 12 steps of NA.
G
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