After putting some clean time together, some of us have a tendency to forget what our most important priority is. Once a week or less we say, "I've gotta get to a meeting tonight. It's been.. " We've been caught up in other things, important for sure, but no more so than our continued participation in Narcotics Anonymous.

It happens gradually. We get jobs. We reunite with our families. We're raising children, the dog is sick, or we're going to school at night. The house needs to be cleaned. The lawn needs to be mowed. We have to work late. We're tired. There's a good show at the theater tonight. And all of a sudden, we notice that we haven't called our sponsor, been to a meeting, spoken to a newcomer, or even talked to God in quite a while.

What do we do at this point? Well, we either renew our commitment to our recovery, or we continue being too busy to recover until something happens and our lives become unmanageable. Quite a choice! Our best bet is to put more of our energy into maintaining the foundation of recovery on which our lives are built. That foundation makes everything else possible, and it will surely crumble if we get too busy with everything else.

The company we kept in active addiction was often based on convenience or ulterior motives. We barely trusted anyone and relied on manipulation to get what we needed. It's no wonder that many of our friendships were short-lived. Denial protected us from seeing the destruction we brought to our relationships.

When we concede that we are powerless over our addiction in Step One, we begin to see the benefits of being honest with ourselves. Emboldened, we begin practicing honesty in our new friendships in recovery.

In forming real friendships, we open the gateway to grace. Grace allows us to view our lives from multiple angles. We can mute the inner critic and appreciate that we possess some of the same qualities we admire in others. As one member noted, "You are or you want to be the people you surround yourself with." Like the other members of our support circle, we strive to get a better perspective on life. Their reflection offers us a picture of who we are now and who we are becoming. Today, we are not alone.

As we continue to recover, we cultivate trusting relationships, strengthening our network of support. Key people in our lives can provide us with an honest reflection of our character.

They allow us to experience grace by seeing ourselves through their eyes. Our ability to acknowledge our own progress and spiritual growth is evidence that we see the world and ourselves more clearly. It can be a daily struggle to see ourselves as our peers see us, no more and no less—but we are up for that challenge.