Gifts of the Program

Written by, Terri R.

I got my nine month chip at a Glendale MA meeting this week. I am the type of person who reflects on my progress whenever I reach a milestone like this. Course, I am very proud of myself. However, I’m also thinking of all the gifts I received from the program in the past nine months. Not only do I have my sobriety, but I have my friends, my higher power, and my future.

In my opinion, my friends are one of the most precious gifts I have received in MA. During the end of my using, I had no friends, like many of us marijuana addicts.  Today, I have more friends than I have ever had. What’s more, they are REAL friends. They love me unconditionally, and  I love them.  I have learned the true meaning of friendship in MA.

My Higher Power is my greatest gift from the program. I am not a religious person, but I believe I have become a spiritual person. My Higher Power guides and supports me in a way I have never known before. I think I am in conscious contact with God, at most times, and for that I am very grateful.

The most exciting thing I have gotten from my time in MA is my future. Before I got sober, I did not really have any goals for my future. As long as I could get high, I didn’t care what else I did. Now that has all changed. In September, I will be starting my third semester in college, and I am deciding what my major will be. The wonderful thing is that now I can do anything. Now that I am sober, I have confidence in myself. My future is not set in stone, but I know that if I am sober, whatever my Higher Power and I decide will be wonderful.

Published in A New Leaf – September 1991

  • Poem

    Written By, Jessyka C. Don’t know how many more times we can say goodbyeBut I will tryHopefully for one last timeTo see you outThis is itIt’s overI mean thisAnd it’s not like I won’t miss youI willWe were good togetherYou and IWe had some great timesBut MaryYou’re done scaring meWith how much I rely upon…

    Poem
  • Stopwatch

    Created By, Anonymous Published By A New Leaf – March 2026

    Stopwatch
  • Heard in a Meeting

    “Don’t tell your Higher Power you have a big problem, tell your problem you have a big Higher Power/God.” Published by A New Leaf – March 2026

    Heard in a Meeting
  • But What If…

    Written By Anthony As I sit in this first day of sobriety, laying in the bed waiting to get sleepy after taking a sleep aid, I’m thinking to myself “But what if I lose it all from disconnecting from everything and everyone?” Only to realize that those what-ifs are what’s kept me trapped for so…

    But What If…
  • Gripped by Green

    Written by, Amy K. Chaos crowned my childhood years,a crown of grief, a flood of tears.Mum was gone before I knewhow fragile love, how brief, how true. At eight, the world was cracked and cold,foster hands, but none to hold.Brother lost to darker fires,needles, powders, failed desires. I found my comfort in the haze,at twelve…

    Gripped by Green
  • A Simple Conversation

    Written by, Michael J. A fellow’s post reminded me of a simple conversation I had this morning with the love of my life. It was about how taking something non-narcotic to help me sleep only works if I take it about once a month. If taken more often than that, it does nothing. That simple…

    A Simple Conversation