Hi, my name is Rob and I am an addict. WOW, it feels GREAT to say that without a qualifying statement of some kind or another afterwards!
I'm 44 years old, an 18 month member of AA and an out-patient with 6 & 1/2 months clean & sober. I've been a member over across the cyber-hall at the AA MIP Board for about 16 months or so.
The reason it feels so good to be here is that I live in a semi-rural, middle-America small town with 7 total AA meetings a week and the closest NA meetings are miles-n-miles away. Some Old Timer AA's can be less-than-welcoming to "you junkies and your powders, pills, pot & poppers and whatever the heck ya'll sniffle, snort and smoke." I think a few of ya'll know what I mean.
Oh...I'm an Alkie alright...thru & thru...but I'm also a grateful recovering drug addict. My life would either be a full-on train wreck or a past-tense event without AA, God & The Program along with some solid addiction therapy.
Thanks for having a place for me to come and feel welcome and at home.
Anyway... I could use some pretty tall-order experience/strength/hope right off the bat. In out-patient I saw a strong need for NA in my community, so I have done the paperwork and started a group. The Decorah Peace Narcotics Anonymous Group, part of the Clean & Free Area of the The Iowa Service Region. The Decorah Peace Group holds a Closed Topic/Participation Meeting (children welcome w/toys available) Tuesday evening, 6pm Northeast Iowa Peace & Justice Center, Inc. 119 Winnebago Street, Decorah, IA 52101 563-419-4970
I am currently the only Trusted Servant for the Decorah Peace Group. I've ordered my starter kit, read (and am re-re-reading The Group Booklet), and am durrently reading Narcotics Anonymous & It Works - How & Why before our first meeting...February 1st.
I'm nervous, I'm excited, I'm scared, I'm humble and I'm very, very ignorant. What I have is my HP, a community in need and the memories of Our Fallen.
What I DON'T have is other NAs and their particular E/S/H about starting a group & the pitfalls of new meetings. I DO have my AA sponsor helping me. I chose him as my sponsor because of his extensive drug history.
Rob - some calls to local rehabs ,community centers, hospitals or clinics could bring some newcomers to your meeting. If I didn't live on the east coast I'd help you out. Sounds like you may have to be a little patient about getting some support for your new group. I've always admired the ones in the fellowship who do the service work, we're a minority.
When I go to meetings I have enough respect for both fellowships and common sense to talk about my alcoholism in AA and my drug addiction in NA. I've seen many groups in my 22 years fall apart because they drifted away from their primary purpose. God Bless Mike K
The thing about NA Rob is that all of us qualify to go there because the NA folks say a drug is a drug is a drug and that includes alcohol. Hence, in NA, they would say we are all addicts and they would welcome us. Hence, any of your alcoholic friends, peers, or whatever would be welcome in NA. One pitfall I hear about NA is that people with long term sobriety often migrate to AA and leave NA full of folks with under 5 years of sobriety. Not sure how you can resolve that one.
Almost anyone coming into AA that is under 30 is going to have drug issues these days. Cross addiction is the nature of the beast. While alcohol was 90 percent of my problem...other drugs are and were part of the problem too.
Good luck!
__________________
Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
I would have to agree with PC concerning long term sobriety. I can't tell you how many times I've witnessed drugs being exchanged during NA meetings...so sad. Most of the meetings in my area (there are probably 10 - 15) are full of court ordered addicts just there to get their papers signed. I think the reason it doesn't seem to work as well as AA (at least in my area) is that they stress the importance of "working your own program" That's insane. My program got me drunk and caused me to do all sorts of bad stuff. Why in the hell would I want to take something thats been working for millions of people for many years and change it to suit myself? I have 3 very close friends that tried for years to get clean in NA and never did. They started to attend AA, swallowed their pride about the whole "alcoholic vs. addict" thing, and found what they said was missing in the other fellowship. Around here anyone with more than 5 years clean will call themselves an old timer. Anyone with more than 10 years is looked at as being some sort of "super hero". I hear people say that NA members are more accepting and open minded that AA members. That doesn't sound very open minded to me. I haven't been to all the meetings in my area, so I can't say that this applies to all of them, but the ones Ive been to and the ones staff and clients here at work talk about are all pretty much the same. I say, whichever one works for you and gives you what your looking for than stick with it and work it to the best of your ability.
Brian
__________________
Nothing ever truly dies. The universe wastes nothing. Everything is simply, transformed. :confuse:
