Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   November 13                                                    Not perfect

    "We are not going to be perfect.  If we were perfect, we would not be
                                   human."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 30

                           ----=----

   All of us had expectations about life in recovery.   Some of us thought
   recovery would suddenly make us employable or able to do anything in the
   world we wanted to do.   Or maybe we imagined perfect ease in our
   interactions with others.   When we stop and think, we realize that we
   expected recovery would make us perfect.   We didn't expect to continue
   making many mistakes.   But we do.  That's not the addict side of us
   showing through; that's being human.

   In Narcotics Anonymous we strive for recovery, not perfection.  The only
   promise we are given is freedom from active addiction.  Perfection is not
   an attainable state for human beings;  it's not a realistic goal.   What
   we often seek in perfection is freedom from the discomfort of making
   mistakes.   In return for that freedom from discomfort, we trade our
   curiosity, our flexibility, and the room to grow.

   We can consider the trade:   Do we want to live the rest of our lives in
   our well-defined little world, safe but perhaps stifled?  Or do we wish to
   venture out into the unknown, take a risk, and reach for everything life
   has to offer?

                           ----=----

   Just for today:   I want all that life has to offer me and all that
   recovery can provide.  Today, I will take a risk, try something new, and
   grow.