Welcome to Narcotics Anonymous of NJ. Our Message Is…
That an addict, any addict can stop using drugs,
lose the desire to use, and find a new way to live.
Helpline
If you feel you have a problem with drugs, call our helpline
Events
See upcoming NA events and activities in NJ
Narcotics Anonymous 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.
– Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text, page 9
Recovery from addiction is possible and available through the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of Narcotics Anonymous.
Narcotics Anonymous is FREEDOM from active addiction.
Narcotics Anonymous is an international, community-based association of recovering drug addicts with over 61,000 weekly meetings in over 131 countries worldwide.
Just for Today
From time to time, we all experience conflicts. It may be that we just can't get along with that new co-worker. Maybe our friends are driving us crazy. Or perhaps our partner isn't living up to our expectations. Dealing with any conflict is difficult for recovering addicts.
When tempers rise, it is often a good idea to back away from the situation until cooler minds prevail. We can always return to further discussion when we have calmed down. We can't avoid troubling situations, but we can use time and distance to find perspective.
Conflict is a part of life. We can't go through our entire recovery without encountering disagreements and differences of opinion. Sometimes we can back away from these situations, taking time to reflect on them, but there always comes a time when conflict must be resolved. When that time comes, we take a deep breath, say a prayer, and apply the principles our program has given us: honesty, openness, responsibility, forgiveness, trust, and all the rest. We didn't get clean to keep running from life--and in recovery, we don't have to run anymore.
A Spiritual Principle a Day
In recovery, when our lives get "bigger," our already questionable attention span is pulled in many different directions. We have our NA life, and we balance it with work life, school life, home life, family life, sex life, and more. On top of that, we are now able to address the consequences of our using: improving our health, dealing with legal issues, making amends. And many of us are also pursuing other interests and goals that bring us joy. Through using the tools of the NA program, including prayer and meditation, we can maintain a manageable balance of all the above. We're living by spiritual principles as much as humanly possible. We're sincerely grateful more often than we aren't.
What could possibly go wrong?
Sometimes it's a truly life-altering event that will throw us off balance. Or maybe we make a mistake we can't run from, or we don't achieve something we've worked hard for and feel we deserve. Other times, if it's only that we spill a glass of water, we'll want to smash the glass and drown ourselves in the water.
Seeking balance--both in terms of our inner life and how we spend our time--is an ongoing negotiation. Reacting in extremes to our mistakes or to what we can't control will wear us out and make us vulnerable to our disease. Just because we're clean and doing well doesn't mean that life will consistently get better and better without fail. We can be vigilant, but we can't prepare for everything. If we have our program as a base and a constant in our lives, we will have spiritual principles, relationships, and a Higher Power to lean on when life inevitably shows up.
Life is unpredictable and can be chaotic. It's the seeking of balance within the chaos that will help keep us clean and moving forward.
