Tuesday September 9, 2025

Thought of the Day

 "One of the biggest stumbling blocks to recovery 

seems to be placing unrealistic expectations on... others." 

 ––––=–––    
Many of us come into the program feeling pretty poorly about ourselves. 

By comparison, the recovering addicts we meet at meetings may seem almost superhumanly serene. These wise, loving people have many months, even years of living in accordance with spiritual principles, giving of themselves to others without expecting anything back. We trust them, allowing them to love us until we can love ourselves. We expect them to make everything alright again.

Then the glow of early recovery begins to fade, and we start to see the human side of our NA friends and sponsor. Perhaps a fellow member of our home group stands us up for a coffee date, or we see two oldtimers bickering at a committee meeting, or we realize our sponsor has a defect of character or two. We're crushed, disillusioned--these recovering addicts aren't perfect after all! How can we possibly trust them anymore?

Somewhere between "the heroes of recovery" and "the lousy bums" lies the truth: 

Our fellow alcoholics and addicts are neither completely bad nor completely good. After all, if they were perfect, they wouldn't need this program. Our friends and sponsor are ordinary recovering alcoholics and addicts, just like we are. We can relate to their ordinary recovery experience and use it in our own program.
 

Commitment for the Day

 My friends and my sponsor are human, just like me-

and I trust their experience all the more for that. 

One Day At A Time