This is a story from the July addition of the NA Way magazine. It’s all about John an addict with 24 years clean who has cirrhosis of the liver as a result of hepatitis C. It’s inspiring how he maintains an attitude of gratitude and continues doing service through his trials and tribulations.
A cup of tea for ya mum
G’day from Australia; my name’s John and I am an addict. Today I received a gift
of some recovery CDs from a friend in the US. It explained and verified a few things
I’ve been aware of for a while but had put to the back of my mind. At 24 years clean, I
know a bit of “stuff.” One thing is that over the years, denial can become more subtle.
I have a bad liver—yeah, cirrhosis (consequences) and the dreaded hepatitis C,
and now type 2 diabetes, which all lead me to a place of being unwell. Yesterday I saw
my specialist and got more disturbing news. Friends of mine here in Adelaide, South
Australia, ask me how I am and I answer, “I’m powerless over this stuff; all I can do is
look after my diet, stay in the here and now, etc.” But what really
happens is that I’m detaching from my confusion, frustration, and
even anger about not feeling well. Like, I didn’t get clean for this,
right?!Using causes suffering, and if you are even contemplating going
out there, then please try to think of the consequences.
I’m at a point in my life now where I am looking at service in
many ways to help anyone I can. Through my experience in NA
service, I’ve found so many ways of how great it is to help others.
One of my first experiences was when my father died when
I was 17 months clean and I was confused and grieving the loss.
I had returned to my family’s farm and then realized I would be
sleeping in the bed he died in! I phoned my sponsor in Sydney
and he said, “Make ya mum a cup of tea.” I wanted to know what
steps to work, what prayer to say. He repeated, “Make ya mum
a cup of tea.” When I started to make her tea I wondered how
many sugars she took, weak, strong, how much milk? Weird little
changes like that have aided my recovery. I started thinking of
my mother instead of myself.So now I am about to go and volunteer at an orphanage in
Cambodia. I know this will change my life; I need it right now.
I will take in the Bali NA convention, and I have many phone
numbers of friends I got clean with who now live in Southeast
Asia. After that, I’ll return to Scotland and Europe, where I
traveled for five years between my eighth and thirteenth years
clean. Ahh, recovery—no more just dreamin’; I’m livin’ itRead the rest of John’s story and more in the July edition of the NA Way Magazine
Source: NA Way Magazine