Drug Rehab Options Blog

January 1


Vigilance

?We keep what we have only with vigilance...?

Basic Text, p. 60

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How do we remain vigilant about our recovery? First, by realizing that we have a disease we will always have. No matter how long we?ve been clean, no matter how much better our lives have become, no matter what the extent of our spiritual healing, we are still addicts. Our disease waits patiently, ready to spring the trap if we give it the opportunity.

Vigilance is daily accomplishment. We strive to be constantly alert and ready to deal with signs of trouble. Not that we should live in irrational fear that something horrible will possess us if we drop our guard for an instant; we just take normal precautions. Daily prayer, regular meeting attendance, and choosing not to compromise spiritual principles for the easier way are acts of vigilance. We take inventory as necessary, share with others whenever we are asked, and carefully nurture our recovery. Above all, we stay aware!

We have a daily reprieve from our addiction as long as we remain vigilant. Each day, we carry the principles of recovery into all we do, and each night, we thank our Higher Power for another day clean.

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Just for today: I will be vigilant, doing everything necessary to guard my recovery.

December 16


Where there?s smoke...

?Complacency is the enemy of members with substantial clean time. If we remain complacent for long, the recovery process ceases.?

Basic Text, p. 84

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Recognizing complacency in our recovery is like seeing smoke in a room. The ?smoke? thickens when our meeting attendance drops, contact with newcomers decreases, or relations with our sponsor aren?t maintained. With continued complacency, we won?t be able to see through the smoke to find our way out. Only our immediate response will prevent an inferno.

We must learn to recognize the smoke of complacency. In NA, we have all the help we need to do that. We need to spend time with other recovering addicts because they may detect our complacency before we do. Newcomers will remind us of how painful active addiction can be. Our sponsor will help us remain focused, and recovery literature kept in easy reach can be used to extinguish the small flare-ups that happen from time to time. Regular participation in our recovery will surely enable us to see that wisp of smoke long before it becomes a major inferno.

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Just for today: I will participate in the full range of my recovery. My commitment to NA is just as strong today as it was in the beginning of my recovery.

December 13


Membership

?There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using.?

Basic Text, p. 9

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We all know people who could benefit from Narcotics Anonymous. Many people we encounter from all walks of life?our family members, old friends, and coworkers?could really use a program of recovery in their lives. Sadly, those who need us don?t always find their way to our rooms.

NA is a program of attraction, not promotion. We are only members when we say we are. We can bring our friends and loved ones to a meeting if they are willing, but we cannot force them to embrace the way of life that has given us freedom from active addiction.

Membership in Narcotics Anonymous is a highly personal decision. The choice to become a member is made in the heart of each individual addict. In the long run, coerced meeting attendance doesn?t keep too many addicts in our rooms. Only addicts who are still suffering, if given the opportunity, can decide if they are powerless over their addiction. We can carry the message, but we can?t carry the addict.

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Just for today: I am grateful for my decision to become a member of Narcotics Anonymous.

Need support badly. Binge drinking husband 2 sons 24, out of home 19 at home.
Married 24 years. First years both in recovery (me al anon) and Christians. About 8 years into marriage husband becomes dry, begins verbal abuse towards me primarily. He slowly began drinking again 2 to 3 times a year. I stayed because I have no family, and still wanted to pretend. Also, I wouldn't have been a good single mother. The boys would run all over me. I continued church but, boys activities hampered my meeting attendance. In 2007 I knew I would have to leave when the last one graduated from H.S. One last attempt I got us to The Meadows for intensive week (I would not recommend this place) and he promised to attend one AA meeting a week which he never did. My contract to myself is if he drank again I would leave. Well.... here I am 3 months later living in an RV at a campground. He says I'm crazy, bringing it on myself, the boys don't talk to me and I feel I've wasted the last 24 years. I really didn't have any major expectations except I didn't think the boys would ignore me. I am grieving big time. I've started going to an abusive d wives group which I think is helping more than Al Anon I think his thinking has gotten sicker over the years
Any feedback helpful

I will periodically list 2 to 3 tools that can be used for our recovery. Some you may not relate to or even care for and others you will relate to alot and might find very useful to implement or just be glad to refresh youself on it. Keep in mind (I'm telling myself this also) these are tools that are only good IF actually used and practiced. The more we do use the one's that seem most useful to us, the more of a change I believe they have on us in this ongoing journey called Recovery. Feel free to post your thoughts about one that really helps you and even your experience and insight of why this one is important to you.

1. REMEMBER YOUR LAST DRUNK/DRUG EPISODE: :warning:
Don't forget the hell you have been through. Dont allow minimizing or illusions of how simply "good" it was to creep in. Don't forget where you came from and why you needed treatment and help. You'll probably never forget how "wonderful" your first highs were, so (even more so) you can't allow yourself to ever forget how miserable really were INSIDE and where you were in the end.


2. USE THE 24 HOUR PLAN: :warning:
Stay clean and sober just for today. Don't worry about staying sober for the rest of you life. Don't burden yourself with the discouraging task of never using again. At times it may be focusing on just one hour at a time or even a each minute at a time, but keep your focus on the NOW. You can't stay clean for tomorrow or next week, but YOU CAN stay clean and sober for just for TODAY.


3. GO TO MEETINGS: :warning:
Regularly attendance at AA or NA meetings will greatly increase your chances of staying straight. Visit as many as you can each week (especially in early recovery). The simple truth is, whether we like it or not, we CANNOT do this on owr own. There is no such thing as the "Lone-Ranger" Recoverying Addict. Why? Because he just leaves and goes back uses again. Yes, it can be awckward meeting new people. Some groups may even turn you off or not fit all your "ideal" or expectations of what it should be like. But you keep looking, because they are out there. Many people just like you in all stages of recovery. Whatever you do, dont give up on this one...it is way too important.

I have a question-

I am not in recovery but am hoping that someone can answer.

I know everyone is different, but I want to know what works best for you as far as frequency of meeting attendance?

2,3,4,5 times a week? etc.

In the past year I have tried many times to get my self sober for a period of time . I have been refered to an alcohol treatment centre for 6 months. But once I started back work my binge drinking has started again ,my access to my children has slipped. My attendance at work has been inconsistant.My financial afairs are in disaray. And I feel I am just about keeping an illusion of soacial inclusion by the skin of my teeth. 5 years ago I managed to abstain for nearly 2 years but of late I have strugled to get any lengthy sobriety under way. I have been sober now since monday . I work as a psychiatric nurse in a forensic setting which means I have to do random shifts which at times can be stressfull and do not enable me to have a regular AA home group.

My boyfriend of about 14 months has been in recovery now for about 22 months. At first things were perfect, but as the relationship progressed and issues came up, it seemed he could not handle the conflict. We have never had a knock down drag out fight, but even a serious discussion was enough to make him seem distant. These were not huge problems that we discussed; they were things like who is staying at whose house on what night and also things like discussing friendships with exes. Normal stuff. We were very serious at one time, he even bought a ring (but doesn't know that I know). He broke up with me about two months ago but it only lasted two weeks until he came back.

So he is back now, and the first two weeks were amazing, but soon after that he began to become a little controlling, telling me that he had problems with one of my girl friends and that he didn't want me going anywhere with her. I put up a little fight but finally gave in. He also recently went to his hometown on tour (he's a musician) and some old using buddies came to the show and they all went out afterward. So he was hanging out with people he has used with in the past in places where they used and i was not comfortable with it at all. I told him this and he told me that his sobriety was "off limits" to me. So I dropped it. I also caught him lying about meeting attendance- it's never something we talk about a lot, but it came up and and he exagerrated the number of meetings he went to last week. He used to go every day and even chaired meetings, but now only goes maybe once a week, if that. He made amends to an ex gf he had used with in the past, and then lied to me about still having her phone number in his phone. He tells me he has no desire to ever drink again. Everything that happens is my fault and my problem, like the ex gf he used with in the past- when I brought it up that I was not cool with them reconnecting he made me apologize for "hurting his feelings" and said I was mean for even mentioning it.

He has never been this way before towards me. I was always a priority and he was always honest and loving. This is a complete change.

What gives? He seems to be exhibiting some warning signs but I don't know if I am imagining things or if I am just nervous. What do I do? Anything? Nothing?

Hi folks,

This is my first post here, but IÂ’ve been reading stuff here for some time now. I have developed some respect for the honest opinions here and would like some input.
HereÂ’s whatÂ’s up.
My home group is going through some growing pains.
The issue that has come up is should we allow non-home group members to attend our group business meetings. We currently do not have anything in our group guidelines that addresses this.
I have been surprised by how strongly our members feel about this.

Most of our members (we have 22) feel that what happens in our business meetings should be private, and group autonomy allows us to decide who can attend.

A few others feel that our business meetings should be open to any addict who wishes to attend.

I personally feel that they should be private. There are two primary reasons I feel this way. First, what we discuss in these meetings often involves members’ personal recovery. One example would be our practice of monitoring members’ attendance and contacting any member who misses more then two consecutive meetings. This usually involves discussing what that member has going on that might be causing them to miss meetings, and if there is reason for concern. Another reason is the potential disruption that having “open” business meetings could allow. I was a witness to that many years ago when almost all groups closed meetings with “the lords prayer”. When our group decided to use Just For Today instead, a couple members did not want to accept that, so they brought several addicts who also felt this way to our business meeting, and they all expressed their opinions from the back of the room when ever someone said something against using that prayer.

The members who want our business meetings to be open are convinced that closed business meetings are against some tradition or concept of service.

What do you think?

Dave D

September 6

Regular meeting attendance

“We have learned from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly stay clean.”

The NA program gives us a new pattern of living. One of the basic elements of that new pattern is regular meeting attendance. For the newcomer, living clean is a brand-new experience. All that once was familiar is changed. The old people, places, and things that served as props on the stage of our lives are gone. New stresses appear, no longer masked or deadened by drugs. ThatÂ’s why we often suggest that newcomers attend a meeting every day. No matter what comes up, no matter how crazy the day gets, we know that our daily meeting awaits us. There, we can renew contact with other recovering addicts, people who know what weÂ’re going through because theyÂ’ve been through it themselves. No day needs to go by without the relief we get only from such fellowship.

As we mature in recovery, we get the same kinds of benefits from regular meeting attendance. Regardless of how long weÂ’ve been clean, we never stop being addicts. True, we probably wonÂ’t immediately start using mass quantities of drugs if we miss our meetings for a few days. But the more regularly we attend NA meetings, the more we reinforce our identity as recovering addicts. And each meeting helps put us that much further from becoming using addicts again.


Just for today: I will make a commitment to include regular meeting attendance as a part of my new pattern of living.



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