SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi family, I'm Tom, I'm an addict. I'm grateful to be here. I love addicts around the world, everywhere I meet addicts, I love addicts. I depend on addicts who are clean.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

Spolíhám se spolí, spolígam se spolíam se, hej. Spolíhám sa na lidí, ktorí sú uzdraví, protože s nimi sa s nimi sa spájám. Já jsem to raz ještě ulabený.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

You're doing good. Dank je. So I had a horrific time, a bad time for many years using drugs.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Podarilo.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

At my very first NA meeting, I got my sponsor. There was something in his eyes that told me he understood where I came from and how I had been living.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

I think we call that hope.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

And I didn't know how to do it.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

That's not what was individual.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

So through their experience and their hope and their love towards me, they would share things that would speak to me. And everything I would raise my hand and talk about, everybody would try to give me something back. So I really understand how important it is to make the newcomer the most important person at any meeting because of what they did for me. And because other recovering addicts loved me and helped me get clean, I have learned right from the start that I owe that to e anybody, everybody who is new to love them.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

A nezáleží to je lenže tým, že ich uítam, že ich privítam, alebo že im poviem aby sa vraceli späť hocičov alebo že sa mi to vráti viac nasobne.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

It's my experience that the people who keep me clean on a daily basis are newcomers.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

V moje skúsenosti sú to vlastne tí ľudia, ktorí ma udržavajú čístím, sú to ti novočikové práve. Mám veľa priateľov, ktorí som spoznal za tých 40 rokov čo som v NA.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

And each of them has been very important to me at different times of my recovery. But the people who are always here are newcomers.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

A viac sa vidím v nich než v niektorých tých starších člonoch.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Because the last couple of years since I turned 70, I am confused a lot. So between the newcomers and the people who are aging, I get some thoughts of how to get through today. And as I learned the principles in step six and seven, I got better at not hurting myself. And then in step eight and nine, I got to feel better about myself by making amends to people I had harmed, like my family. And I still do step 10 throughout the day. And it shocked her, and it shocked me. That was the beginning of getting uh some belief that my higher power would help me to become a better person because I was never that way ever. I couldn't stay clean without a belief that besides NA members helping me and meetings, that if I didn't have a higher power, especially today, I wouldn't be able to live life as other people do. I don't expect newcomers to have that belief yet. And so I try to be gentle when it comes to talking about our higher power or mentioning the word G O D because it scared me in the beginning.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

A navčil som sa vlastne tým, že som aj pozoroval ostatních uzdravaní, že väčšina tých závislých, ktorí aj zostanú čistí a sú čistý dĺžite, tak dostanú nejako prostor svoju shislu.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

So I believe in my heart that if they stay clean, that they will also develop a belief in a higher power. This is why I picked the topic the importance of staying clean. Some for a substantial amount of time forget that staying clean has to come first.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

A tá najsmočnejšia najboljšia vec na tom všetkom, že pozerať sa na závislých na ľudí, ktorí už boli aj čistí, nejak aj dlhšiu dobu. Takže zabudnú na to, že zostať čistí musí byť vždy na prvom mieste. A ako pracujeme na svojom progre, tak to, že zostať čistý, musí byť musí byť na prvom mieste každý deň.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

That will allow me for what I didn't accomplish today to probably wake up tomorrow to try again. The people I watched who did pick up many of them didn't wake up the next morning to do to get a better day. And usually it was the drugs that took away their life. I try to give tolerance to anybody I'm with who might be struggling in a defect and try to encourage them don't pick up a drug. And because I chose not to pick up.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Prežil som si teraz veľa ťažkých momentov a zlých momentov kvôli tomu že som čo som spravil alebo kvôli môjemu rozmýšľaniu, ale len vďaka tomu, že som sa som sa rozhodol, že nedám si nedám si proste.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

I got through whatever those problems were because I was clean and alive.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

ťažké časy, teda časy dostal, pretože som žil alebo som čistý.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

That cycle hasn't stopped right up until today. In the last two years I have been challenged in living life on life's terms. Part of my step one is the one thing you better not do is go look for escape through drugs. And while I'm struggling, I have to go and make a decision to release my problem, whatever it is, to the care of my higher power. I have to get in touch with my sponsor. And I listen to his direction. He always gives me direction. Other members I talk to, I get to really talk about what's going on, and we have a dialogue. And when I'm in a meeting and I will talk about whatever problem I'm having.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

I still move taki a kicks a vector poser, take my chuckle uček.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Being old now and having been in recovery a long time, I know that doesn't work. Running doesn't work. And this is why I say I relate with the newcomers a hundred percent because this last couple of years is so similar to my first couple of years cleaned. They're saving my life. Who also live this way of life. And they encourage me to keep doing it, even though I'm getting more and more tired as I get old. So all the members who live our new way of life and practice these principles on a daily basis give me encouragement. The what and the I forget the name of the book, it's green and gold, that's how we all refer to it.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

How and why?

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Yeah, how and white, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

It doesn't take away the fact that my foundation is in the basic text that I still go to two-step meetings, always have every week. And that information has never let me down. But I'm I'm gonna take that from a sign from my higher power that uh hopefully I carried a message that helps somebody today. And uh I love you guys. I love you guys a lot. I I love Renata for asking me to come to Slovakia. I'm probably not saying it right, but I I I uh I I love uh helping addicts anywhere, you know, anywhere. So it's I I feel I feel blessed uh to to have been asked to to um share today. And I I'm hoping everybody has a good day. And believe me, I hope everybody stays clean today. You know, that's that's my main prayer. And thank you for letting me share.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

Thank you. Vlastne teraz zoberám to ako znamenie od vyše silu, že teraz by som mohl ukončiť svoje vzdelanie. A som veľmi vťačený, že som to mohlo byť. Milujem vás všetkých, milujeme, ďakujeme aj Renátke, že vlastne pozvala na Slovensko vzdelávania a vlastne dúfam, že sa moje vzdelanie aj dotklo, niektorých, že z toho z toho niečo vezmu. A som veľmi pocit, že to mohlo byť a modli sa to, aby ste dostali dnez čistých, ako sa môho vzdelávať.