Services give us opportunities to grow in ways that touch all parts of our lives.
Core Text, Chapter 9: Just for Today-Living the Program
The Key Text describes what we once were in active addiction as "deceitful, fearful lonely people." Many of us come to NA with very limited healthy and productive life experience. We may have never held down a legitimate, regular job and lack the skills to find one. Or we may have skills and experience, but our suspect work history reflects more of our usage than our work ability. Our relationships, if they even exist, are a mess – with our loved ones, with ourselves, with a Higher Power. Our selfishness and aversion to being truly vulnerable and intimate with others has isolated us. And then there's the spiritual necrosis that so many of us arrive at – and either the cruelty or sheer embarrassment that comes with it.
At gatherings we hear members share that their lives are "bigger," "amazing," and "beyond my wildest dreams." To begin with, we are wary at best, especially when we are also told that this is not because of material gains, but because of what they earned by serving Narcotics Anonymous. One member shared, “Through the services, my relationship with humanity was restored.” Seriously; ALL of humanity?
Most of us engage in services because we've been told, "That's how we stay clean." We don't fully realize its holistic benefits until we experience them ourselves. Through our NA engagements, we learn essential practical skills, public speaking and good communication skills. We learn how to listen—at meetings, to another member who needs to vent, to people we don't even like. We learn how to treat others with respect when we disagree. We learn to show up to do our job no matter what. And much more.
These are qualities we take with us wherever we go, in all our affairs. NA doesn't just help us stay clean—it transforms us into people who can make a positive impact inside and outside the rooms.
What aspects of my life have NA services touched? Through service, what can I do today – at work, at home, or wherever I go – to make a positive impact?
