“If we are hurting, and most of us do from time to time, we learn to ask for help.”
—Basic Text, page 80
Sometimes recovery gets downright difficult. It can be even more challenging to humble ourselves enough to ask for help. We might think, “I have all this time clean. I should be better than this!” But the reality of recovery is simple: whether we have thirty days or thirty years clean, we must be willing to ask for help when we need it.
Humility is a common theme in our Twelve Steps. The program of Narcotics Anonymous is not about keeping up appearances. Instead, it helps us get the most from our recovery. We must be willing to lay bare our difficulties if we expect to find solutions to the problems that arise in our lives.
There’s an old expression sometimes heard in Narcotics Anonymous: We can’t save our face and our ass at the same time. It isn’t easy to share in a meeting when we have a number of years clean only to dissolve into tears because life on life’s terms has made us realize our powerlessness. But when the meeting ends and another member comes up and says, “You know, I really needed to hear what you had to say,” we know that there is a Higher Power working in our lives.
The taste of humility is never bitter. The rewards of humbling ourselves by asking for help sweetens our recovery.
Just for today: If I need help, I will ask for it. I will put humility into action in my life.