Helping
How do I make the transition from caretaker or enabler to helper? The best way to help addicts is to seek help for myself first. One of life’s toughest lessons is that…
No Expectations
One of the hardest things for me to grasp in Nar-Anon was the idea of having no expectations for the addict in my life. Having always had high expectations of everyone…
Detachment Takes Practice
At times, detachment has been hard for me. My sickness leads me to believe that I can say or do that one thing to help change the addict’s life. However, my…
Gift Of Honesty
In Nar-Anon, we work the Twelve Steps for ourselves. Step Four, “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves,” can appear to be a difficult and intimidating step. Possibly, because…
A New Way Of Thinking
If I saw an insane person on the street, I would not try to talk sense to that person. Why do I think I can try to talk sense to…
Just For Today
My favorite “Just for Today” saying from the Nar-Anon Blue Booklet is “I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as…
Courage To Change
I find it amazing that the working of Step Four can help dictate how one reacts to life’s challenges. This step made me realize that my reaction to any given circumstance…
Freedom Of Thought
My daughter chooses to keep her distance from me because all I did was worry about her. I worried about where she was, what she was doing and what she was…
Generations Of Martyrs
How did I become such a martyr, sacrificing my own well-being as I tried to change and take care of others? As I listen to the committee in my head, I…
Envy
Some of my Nar-Anon friends who entered the program after I did were already seeing their addicts in recovery. I thought that this was not fair, and I realized that…