December 16

Our Literature tells us that addiction is a progressive disease. It's progressive even during abstinence.

In Narcotics Anonymous, we are granted a Daily Reprieve and that depends on our Spiritual Maintenance that day. Complacency is the enemy of members with substantial amount of Clean Time.

Our Gray Book states, "Clean time in the program acts as insurance. " We have to Practice our Spiritual Principles in order to keep this insurance from lapsing. Early signs of complacency can be missing Meetings, not working with others, not staying Open-minded, and thinking we don't need to continue working and Living the Steps. When we stop paying these dividends, is where the process of relapse has its beginning.

Some of us become Spiritually complacent, we slow down on our Prayer and Meditation. Since our Spiritual Conditioning is the basis for a Successful Recovery, we lose the Power to Practice these Principles on a daily basis.

We start to backslide on this Uphill Journey. This process happens so subtly that we fail to notice it. We depend on our Clean Time to carry us through our day to day activities. Our addiction starts to manifest itself in other areas that seem justifiable, like working a lot of overtime, or spending time with our families and not attending Meetings, for example.

The longer we stay in this condition, our Recovery process ceases and the relapse process begins. We have to remember our Recovery comes First, or we will lose these Precious Gifts in the relapse process.