The Narcotics Anonymous Message

ETROR

The message is that an addict, any addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live. Our message is hope and the promise of freedom.

Who We Are

ETROR

East Tennessee Ridges of Recovery is a service committee formed to provide NA groups in East Tennessee assistance in carrying our message. This support is provided through many services including public information, published meeting listings, and fellowship events.

The purpose of this site is to be a resource for members as well as anyone else who thinks they may have a problem with drugs. We seek to provide current information regarding recovery meetings, email and telephone contacts where an addict may seek help, service committees, and events in our area. It is also intended to be a source of general information about Narcotics Anonymous for non-members and professionals in our community.

Just for Today

ETROR

April 23, 2024

A God of our own understanding

Page 117

"Many of us understand God to be simply whatever force keeps us clean."

Basic Text, p. 25

Some of us enter recovery with a working understanding of a Higher Power. For a lot of us, however, "God" is a troublesome word. We may doubt the existence of any sort of Power greater than ourselves. Or we may remember uncomfortable experiences with religion and shy away from "the God stuff."

Starting over in recovery means we can start over in our spiritual life, too. If we're not comfortable with what we learned when we were growing up, we can try a different approach to our spirituality. We don't have to understand everything all at once or find the answers to all our questions right away. Sometimes it's enough just to know that other NA members believe and that their belief helps keep them clean.

Just for Today: All I have to know right now about my Higher Power is that it is the Power that helps keep me clean.

Spiritual Principle a Day

Uncategorized

April 23, 2024

The Value of Our Individuality

Page 117

"We are mindful of our behavior and our surroundings without giving up our individuality."

Living Clean, Chapter 6, "Moving Beyond 'Social Acceptability'"

Rock bottom means different things to different addicts. We come to NA in various states of unwellness, some more visible than others. No matter what kind of shape we appear to be in when we get here, we each find ourselves at the edge of our own learning curve. Although our minds may try to get ahead of us with all kinds of knotty questions, our journeys almost always start with going to meetings and staying clean between them.

It may occur to us that we wouldn't have used with a lot of these people—unless it was their stuff, of course; no need to be rude. We can't imagine them using with each other either, but there they go again, hanging out together in the parking lot for an hour after the meeting. We find this mildly troubling. As using addicts, we thought we could suss out any situation and be who we needed to be. Here . . . what? Am I supposed to be myself? That seems to be the idea. Yikes!

In fact, that's part of our charge: to figure out who we are and be that on purpose. In It Works: How and Why, we read about the value of our diversity and the "rough-and-tumble liveliness" found in NA. This rings true. We're told there's no one right way to be an addict in recovery. This seems reassuring or disconcerting, depending on our mood. We aspire to be as comfortable in our uniqueness as some of those eccentric oldtimers. Like them, we grow secure in our own individuality and learn to express it in context-appropriate ways.

Accepting that our value lies in being ourselves frees up all that energy we used to spend shape-shifting. We no longer feel a need to blend in with the wallpaper or shine like the brightest star. We get to be ourselves, each of us uniquely contributing to the lively whole. We don't need to fit in—because we belong.

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Fellowship encourages me to be wholly myself, which I'll do to the best of my ability.