What Is the Narcotics Anonymous Program?
NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work.
We encounter different points of view in recovery and NA service. We may all be on the same path, working toward a common goal, but we're ultimately in different places along that road. For example, some of us take years to get through the Steps, while others work one Step per month. Some groups vote and others make decisions by consensus. Guided by our mentors, we take up an approach that works. It's only natural to believe that we're going about things the right way. From there, it's a short leap to believing that ours is the only right way, and that's a slippery slope to self-righteousness.
Accepting that members hold various perspectives and apply the tools of the program differently helps us understand the difference between unity and uniformity. There is, after all, more than one way to eat an apple. We learn to choose our battles and let go of our need to be right all the time. A wise sponsor once said, "Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy?"
Knowing when to stand firm and when to bend is a sign of maturity in recovery. We learn to trust the process, and this takes away the burden of having to be right all the time. We come to rely on the good or God we find in NA. We bring unity to our groups and our relationships by allowing others--and ourselves--to be wrong, steering clear of self-righteousness, and holding firm to our beliefs.