Help Recovering from Addiction
 |
I have ambivalent feelings regarding addiction recovery. Having been involved with substance abuse from my extremely late teens through my early 40s I am well versed with having "the monkey on your back".
This being said, I recovered from both recreational drug and tobacco addictions cold turkey. I simply awoke one day determined to stop using and thereby ended my need for both the stimulus barrier of cigarettes (I was a Marlboro man) and recreational altered consciousness (alcohol, pot, pills, shrooms, etc).
I have been amused with the various commercials for addiction recovery professionals claiming that "nobody can beat addiction by themselves".
My "addictive personality" and hunger for a reality outside of the world in which I dwelled was something I viewed as an insurmountable obstacle to ridding myself of the scourge of dealing with a bunch of drug dealers and living through the fog of diminished cognitive capacity because of the half lives of some of the items I consumed with great gusto.
Not to be insensitive but since that time so many years ago when I put EVERYTHING down in the non prescription drug habits I once felt were so essential to my life my tolerance for those who claim that addiction has taken everything from them has diminished somewhat over the years.
My "preachy phase" having left a good while back, I am hesitant to get into any debates regarding what I think about drug addiction because it is met with a certain attitude projecting a "cold bastard" opinion toward me by and large. Besides, I'm not really concerned with your addiction status anyway — as long as I'm not responsible for your bills.
My personal feelings regarding alcoholism, recreational drug use, and those problems associated with lifestyles which cannot support the never ending supply due to those inverse effects addiction has on income are thus:
| 1. | You became the addict by your own habits, the addict was not always you. |
| 2. | Taking responsibility for your actions is the first step. |
| 3. | Deciding that drugs and alcohol are not for you is the second step. |
| 4. | Cessation of those additions to your life requires a firm committment. |
| 5. | Though I never backslid once, I felt that if I had I would simply restart from where I was in the process. |
| 6. | As for addiction recovery institutions and associated "professionals" ... I never needed them and neither do you. |
People may think I am cold and distant from these human problems that plague many. All I can say is these are the result of a failure to accept responsibility for your lives and pursuing some addiction professional isn't going to do that for you.
I prefer a life without crutches and some commercial saying "you can't beat addiction by yourself, no one can" is about as irresponsible and untrue as it gets. Responsibility for your life begins in that place between your ears and behind your eyes.