When we arrived at our first NA meeting, it looked like the end of the road to many of us. We weren't going to be able to use anymore. We were spiritually bankrupt. Most of us were totally isolated and didn't think we had much to live for Little did we realize that, as we began our program of recovery, we were stepping onto a road of unlimited possibilities.

At first, just not using was tough enough. Yet, as we watched other addicts working the steps and applying those principles in their lives, we began to see that recovery was more than just not using. The lives of our NA friends had changed. They had a relationship with the God of their understanding. They were responsible members of the fellowship and of society. They had a reason to live. We began to believe these things were possible for us, too.

As we continue our recovery journey, we can get sidetracked by complacency, intolerance, or dishonesty. When we do, we need to recognize the signs quickly and get back on our path-the open road to freedom and growth.

Many of us, even with time clean, find ourselves with a problem or a situation we have no idea how to deal with. For example, grateful as we are that we've been released from prison, we are petrified by the prospect of rebuilding our lives outside of the structure we'd become used to. Or, having fallen out of love with our spouse—who shares the same home group, no less—we want to move on. But how? Or, our supervisor at work is in active addiction. We pick up her slack because we don't want her to get fired. But the stress is killing us.

Shame, indecision, and fear prevent us from talking about our problem with anyone. Or our ego takes over: I can figure this out on my own. We've been down this road before and know where it leads: denial, dishonesty, resentments, isolation. But we can make a different choice now, just as we did about our addiction.

If we share what we're going through—with a trusted NA member, with our sponsor, or on a group level—we are acting differently, even creatively. We can rely on someone else's creativity to take us down a road we had never considered. We just have to open our minds to their experience and perspective.

Other times it's the act of sharing that's the solution. Creative action of the spirit requires us to have the courage to open our hearts to share what has seemed impossible for us to talk about. In these cases, we depend on another's empathy to get us through a situation that has no resolution but to accept it.