Bonfire Costume Party
Join us Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 7pm as Northwest Area Special Events hosts a free event! Please bring a chair as we gather around the bonfire, accompanied by free
Welcome to the Northwest Area of Narcotics Anonymous! We are a community of individuals who have come together to support one another in our journey of recovery from addiction. Our doors are open to anyone seeking a safe and supportive environment to begin or continue their path of recovery. We invite you to explore our website and learn more about the resources and events we offer. Together, we can overcome the challenges of addiction and find the strength to live a fulfilling, drug-free life.
When at the end of the road we find that we can no longer function as a human being, either with or without drugs, we all face the same dilemma. What is there left to do? There seems to be this alternative: either go on as best we can to the bitter ends—jails, institutions, or death—or find a new way to live. In years gone by, very few addicts ever had this last choice. Those who are addicted today are more fortunate. For the first time in man’s entire history, a simple way has been proving itself in the lives of many addicts. It is available to us all. This is a simple spiritual—not religious—program, known as Narcotics Anonymous.
Narcotics Anonymous (N.A.) 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. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using. We suggest that you keep an open mind and give yourself a break. Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives. The most important thing about them is that they work. We have learned from our group experience that those who keep coming to our meetings regularly stay clean.
November 16, 2025 |
Alone no more |
| Page 334 |
| "We gradually and carefully pull ourselves out of the isolation and loneliness of addiction and into the mainstream of life." |
| Basic Text, p. 37 |
| Many of us spent much of our using time alone, avoiding other people--especially people who were not using--at all costs. After years of isolation, trying to find a place for ourselves in a bustling, sometimes boisterous fellowship is not always easy. We may still feel isolated, focusing on our differences rather than our similarities. The overwhelming feelings that often arise in early recovery--feelings of fear, anger, and mistrust--can also keep us isolated. We may feel like aliens but we must remember, the alienation is ours, not NA's. In Narcotics Anonymous, we are offered a very special opportunity for friendship. We are brought together with people who understand us like no one else can. We are encouraged to share with these people our feelings, our problems, our triumphs, and our failures. Slowly, the recognition and identification we find in NA bridge the lonely gap of alienation in our hearts. As we've heard it said--the program works, if we let it. |
| Just for Today: The friendship of other members of the fellowship is a life-sustaining gift. I will reach out for the friendship that's offered in NA, and accept it. |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2025, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
November 16, 2025 |
Resilience Keeps Us Coming Back |
| Page 331 |
| "It's never too late to start over, reconnect with the fellowship, work steps, have a spiritual awakening, and find a new way to live." |
| Living Clean, Preface |
| For many of us in active addiction, starting over from scratch was practically a lifestyle choice. Things got tough, we owed back rent, our relationships or jobs got in the way of our drug use--and we were gone! We got a new place, a new job, and someone new to put up with our crap. Some of us carried that behavior into NA. Instead of staying clean through snags in early recovery, we'd press the reset button and clear the board. Day One again. We'd change road dogs, sponsors, and home groups. This wasn't the healthiest or most spiritual way to be resilient, but that was our strategy to survive and bounce back from conflict and hardship. Still, we kept coming back. When we get some time in NA, starting over might look very different. Many of us will hit major low points in our lives, but when we stay close to NA, we can immediately turn to Step One--not Day One--when our life becomes unmanageable. Others of us accumulate years of cleantime and are so busy being functional that we don't realize how isolated we are from NA. We haven't relapsed, but our recovery has all but flatlined. "I woke up today and realized that it was my 25th cleantime anniversary, and I don't even remember the last time I marked the occasion," a member shared. "I came today because I didn't even know I was miserable. I thought, Maybe I should use so that I could come back to meetings. Though I'm embarrassed about how long it's been, I'm grateful my next thought was, Just go to a meeting and start over." How do we come back when we haven't really left? Instead of pulling the plug on our program, we can jump-start it. We may feel some regret at taking NA for granted, but we are back--and can keep coming back. It doesn't matter when we start over or why; it only matters that we do. |
| How close am I to the Fellowship today? I will remember that I can push the recovery reset button anytime but don't have to throw a grenade in order to start fresh. |
| Copyright (c) 2007-2025, NA World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Join us Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 7pm as Northwest Area Special Events hosts a free event! Please bring a chair as we gather around the bonfire, accompanied by free
FREESTATE REGIONAL CONVENTION XXXI “KEYS TO FREEDOM!” NOVEMBER 28 – 30, 2025Hyatt-Regency Inner Harbor300 Light Street | Baltimore, Maryland ALL 5 MEALS including BANQUET $134.00Profits from last year lowered food
