June 22: Spiritual Principle a Day, read by Glen

Spiritual Principle a Day for June 22, read by Glen

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June 22

Self-Supporting and Standing Tall

"When we are willing to stand for our own dreams and beliefs, we are practicing a deeper kind of self-support."

—Living Clean, Chapter 6, “Finding Our Place in the World”

––––=––––

Addicts are often viewed and portrayed as disaffected loners or rebels without causes. Many of us were (or still are) quite comfortable with that image. Even so, identifying what we believed in or what we wanted out of life escaped most of us before recovery. Breaking out of our rut and genuinely standing for something different from the people in our using lives was rare—and certainly not something we viewed as self-support.

For one addict, approaching and finding self-support came at the end of the road: “My whole family used, and I let that stop me from getting clean more than once,” the member wrote. “I didn’t want them to think I was abandoning them or that I thought I was better than them. But I couldn’t live that way anymore.”

Changing our lives is scary enough already, even without the additional burden of having loved ones who don’t share our interests or goals. Not everyone we used with wants recovery, but many people still respect our needs and boundaries when we get clean. We may grow apart from some people, but those who care about us want us to follow our own path.

We may feel a similar sense of hesitation about pursuing interests in recovery. We don’t want to abandon our friends. “When I had a couple of years clean,” one member shared, “I was the youngest person in my NA crew. I wanted to take college classes, but I thought I’d be ditching my people. My sponsor told me it was okay—he got the prison experience for me, now I could go get the college experience for him.”

We don’t have all of the time, energy, or money to do anything and everything we want. We can’t be in two (or more!) places at once. Practicing self-support means taking responsibility for the choice of how we use our limited resources. Some of us may still rebel, but it’s more likely we now have a cause to support.

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Spiritual Principle:

People who truly love me want me to follow my dreams. I will honor my loving relationships by choosing to stand tall in my own choices.

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© NA World Services

This podcast is not affiliated with Narcotics Anonymous, and is an independent production of the Works of Wisdom

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Voices of Recovery podcast.
This is your Spiritual Principleof a Day episode featuring a
recovering addict. Hi, my name is Glenn.

(00:24):
My clean date is June 23rd, 2023.
You're listening to the Voices of Recovery podcast.
This is the Spiritual principle,a day passage for June 22nd.
Self supporting and standing tall.
When we are willing to stand forour own dreams and beliefs, we

(00:45):
are practicing A deeper kind of self support.
Living Clean Chapter 6 Finding our place in the world.
Addicts are often viewed and portrayed as disaffected loners
or rebels without causes. Many of us were, or still are
quite comfortable with that image.

(01:05):
Even so, identifying what we believed in or what we wanted
out of the life escaped most of us before recovery.
Breaking out of our rut and genuinely standing for something
different from the people in ourusing lives was rare and
certainly not something we viewed as self support.

(01:26):
For one addict, approaching and finding self support came at the
end of the road. My whole family used, and I let
that stop me from getting clean more than once, the member
wrote. I didn't want to think that I
was abandoning them or that I thought I was better than them,
but I couldn't live that way anymore.

(01:46):
Changing our lives is scary enough already, even without the
additional burden of having loved ones who don't share our
interests or goals. Not everyone we used with wants
recovery, but many people still respect our needs and
boundaries. When we get clean, we may grow
apart from some people, but those who care about us want us

(02:09):
to follow our own path. We may feel a similar sense of
hesitation about pursuing interests in recovery.
We don't want to abandon our friends.
When I had a couple of years clean, one member shared I was
the youngest person in my NA crew.
I wanted to take college classes, but I thought I'd be
ditching my people. My sponsor told me it was OK.

(02:33):
He got the prison experience forme.
Now I could go get the college experience for him.
We don't have all of the time, energy or money to do anything
and everything we want. We can't be in two or more
places at once. Practicing self support means
taking responsibilities for the choice of how we use our limited

(02:57):
resources. Some of us may still rebel, but
it's more likely we now have a cause for support.
Spiritual principle. People who truly love me want to
follow my dreams. I will honor my loving
relationships by choosing to stand tall in my own choices.

(03:21):
The Voices of Recovery Podcast is an independent production of
The Works of Wisdom. We welcome your questions and
donations via PayPal at [e-mail].
This podcast is an independent production and is not affiliated
with, associated with, authorized by, endorsed by, or
in any way officially connected with Narcotics Anonymous or any

(03:43):
of its subsidiaries or affiliates.
While any literature may be readduring episodes for the purpose
of supporting Recovery, such usedoes not constitute an official
endorsement or representation byNarcotics Anonymous.
In accordance with any tradition, the NA name is not to
be used to endorse or be affiliated with any outside
enterprise, and no such endorsement or affiliation is

(04:04):
implied. Music is by SAGE.
Thanks for listening to the Voices of Recovery podcast.