The first step is omitting it.

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So I started going to narcotics anonymous meetings.

I am not addicted to narcotics. I just really liked the idea of a group of people talking about 1 subject for an hour. I can't stand the way people talk about 251 things at once and subsequently talk about nothing. At the same time they wonder why problems don't get solved.

I also imagined these people would have thought about this addiction stuff a lot and would be able to speak about it with some sincerity.

I also thought they would have to listen to each other (and me) even if only out of obligation. Like, listen and try to understand. Which, I imagine would be a nice thing, but then again I don't know because it's never happened.

None of these things happened. It was horrible. There was no mention of anything real things at all. It was nothing more than generic, inspirational words of strength followed by more generic words about overcoming things then some stuff about god and then some stuff about god helping us to overcome things. I have never felt more at risk of exploding.

I'm thinking that drugs were never the problem for most of these people. They were problematic people whom also did drugs.

Does this resonate with anyone? Not so much the uselessness of Narc Anon, but the fantasy of having a real conversation with someone about something somewhere. I might as well start hunting dragons.

Also, I realize the Fight Club-esque-ness of this. Side note: how good is that movie? I don't think I would change anything about it. It's like the perfect movie. I know it's one of movies that is so popular it then becomes cool to hate it, which is sad.

Well I've found that doing drugs helps too.

And at the risk of sounding sarcastic, I apologize, but giving up on a problem will solve the dilemma 100% of the time. It's like the difference between stopping yelling and solving an argument, or playing a musical scale from top to bottom but excluding the final note. It's like "sure you did technically play WHOLE scale but....".

Technically correct but still really bothersome. You know what I mean?

Well I appreciate the concern, but I don't actually do drugs. I guess I take take my add medication everyday, but I'm sure you can make the distinction.

My level of drug taking aside, does anyone else get bothered by the inability of people to talk about the subject being talked about? Or the accusation of over analyzing everything? I actually feel like everyone has add BUT me.

Naw.

TheSunAlsoRises

Naw? I'm confused as to what you guys are talking about. So you go to meetings to curb some kind of addiction? or just to talk to people, as I do.

I must be more autistic than I thought.

Hate to sound like a sanctimonius prick but I think the first step in trying to combat any addiction is identifying your motives for taking it up in the first place. Any professional counsellor will get into that stuff.

If you're trying to escape from something, you need to establish that the problems wont go away unless you deal with it head on.

There are a myriad of problems that are best dealt with by running away from them.

Bears, street gangs, jungle cats, spiders, republicans.

No one would suggests taking these things head on. But that is all beside the point. Quitting drugs was never the issue. It was just the idea of doing strange things out of the desire to have a conversation with someone. A conversation that does not consist of everyone talking about nothing by switching subjects, not listening, only talking about themselves, assuming instead of asking, etc.

This has nothing to do with drugs or quitting drugs or NA itself.

Great post (and title!) - I'd vote it "+1 Insightful" if this was Slashdot.

I don't feel it as strongly as you seem to, but yes, I am frustrated by most NTs vagueness and inability to focus on the topic at hand. It's not so bad when it's just a social conversation, because in that case I know that the other person knows what they're doing better than I do and I let them take the lead. I do find it very frustrating when I'm trying to discuss something serious and actually get information from the other person, but they keep trying to tell me all sorts of stuff that they think I should know instead of answering the questions that I actually asked.

Yes, I also dislike that kind of say nothing conversation about nothing. It seems like it helps people feel temporarily good about themselves and each other, kind of like the effects of a drug, then wears off later. It would be nice if people could omit 99% of what they were going to say.

FMX - Thanks for the +1. I don't know what slashdot is, but I'm guessing it's where ultra awesome people go. I'm giving you a +1 too. At the meeting, I was prepared to answer every question they could possibly ask me. I had an entire backstory worked out. I hate lying, but if you want to make an addict omelette , you have to break a few truth eggs. When I showed up, everyone said "hello, congrats for coming" and then nothing else. I could have been a crazed heroin junkie and no one would have even known. Someone needs to start a group for people with drug problems, because NA is not that sort of place.

Mirror21 - What is a druid fellowship? and what gets discussed there? Also, did you ever see that TV commercial where a bunch of stoned kids were driving out of some fast food restaurant drive through and hit some little girl on a bike? It was some sort of anti-drug commercial. I imagined that commercial, except instead of a car they were riding a jungle cat.

btbnnyr - Are you Russian?

You guys are all great.