Fear and denial are the opposites of acceptance. None of us are perfect and we know it ourselves; we all have parts that we would change at the first opportunity. Sometimes we are disappointed when we realize how far we are from our values, to such an extent that we fear that there is no way we can become the people we want to be. That's when we automatically go into denial and go to the opposite extreme: we don't need to change anything, we tell ourselves, so why worry? When we are at one of these extremes, we do not have the freedom to change.
Whether we are longtime NA members or newcomers, the freedom to change is given to us when we work the Twelve Steps. When we admit powerlessness and lack of control in our lives, we go against the lie that it is not necessary to change. We come to believe that a Power greater than ourselves can help us, and then we stop fearing that the damage is irreparable; we begin to believe that we can change. We surrender ourselves to the care of the God of our understanding and get the strength we need to take an honest and searching inventory of ourselves. What we see we admit to God, to ourselves and to another person. We accept the good and the bad within us and become ready to change.
