This is something that has been on my mind for quite some time. I know that a lot of people struggle with addiction on a daily basis. It is like what Jm Storm says. “we’re all just a bunch of addicts, struggling with our drug of choice.” Whether it is drugs, alcohol, gambling, or something else, it can be difficult to quit cold turkey. An addiction can also come in the form of a person. I think it is quite possible to become addicted to another person. Many of us have been struggling with these issues for many years. Addiction is not easy for the addicts themselves, but it can also take a toll on the people around him/her. It can be draining and sucking the energy/life out of everyone involved. Addiction can also be self destructive which leads me into this next quote. “The worst part about anything that’s self destructive is that it’s so intimate. You become so close with your addictions and illnesses that leaving them behind is like killing the part of yourself that taught you how to survive.” That is why quitting your addictions is so hard. It is sometimes like cutting off something that you needed in order to survive and live.
What comes after addiction is what we call the “recovery” process and that could include anything from rehab to therapy, etc. I admire those who realize that they have a problem and decide to overcome their addictions because recovery is just as hard as the addiction itself. DW says “Those who overcome addictions may be the strongest people on the planet.” Those people are strong and brave. They are my personal heroes. I thought I would combine these two subjects together because they go together. You cannot overcome addiction without the recovery process. To some people it is scary to enter the recovery and sobriety phases because they realize that they cannot rely on the things they used to before. It is pretty much like starting your life over or starting with a new slate. It is one of the scariest things to do in life.
How people choose to recover is their own decision. In other words, it varies from person to person and is very personal. Recovery is all about acceptance. That leads me into my next quote by Jamie Lee Curtis. She says “Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it.” So in other words you have to accept that your life is falling apart and you have to be willing to change it. I have been wanting to talk about this subject for a long time and I finally feel like I have the courage to publish this post. I hope whatever it is that people are addicted to, they take the courage to get over that addiction. I know that it is hard, especially if it something that passes down from one generation to the next like alcoholism. Anyways, I hope this post and poem provides some inspiration, especially for those who are struggling with their addictions every day. I am thinking about each and every one of you! This post is what I am concluding 2020 with. I will see you in the new year!! Cheers!
Letting Go of Addiction
Maybe it is your eyes that drew me in and got me hooked,
But there is something about you that is like a piece of art.
You know how to fuel my addiction like adding wood to
The burning fire. Every time that you glanced and looked
My way it is like my soul had a mind of its own. My heart
And essence is what you took. Some part of me just knew
That I did not want any of it back. I just knew that it was
Going to be coming back to me bloody and blue. It is like
You squeezed the life out of something I used to think
Was so beautiful and chaotic. You sunk your sharp claws
Deeply into me, trying to keep me in place like a shrike
Looking for its next prey. It is when I got to the brink
And edge of destruction that I finally thought I needed
To break this endless cycle. I could not keep going back
To something that would leave me with nothing that I
Could mend, fix, rebuild or begin anew. It is as if I weeded
Out all the bad toxins. My life had to get on the right track
Again. I had to push aside all the tears I knew I would cry
When I was missing you and during the detoxification
Process. That is when I begin to heal and rise up from
The ashes like a phoenix. That is when I knew I had
To stop the addiction. I depart from a new station
And a new place, going towards the light. With some
New and old memories along the way. Being clad
In armor, but not being afraid to let new things
And experiences come in. Once again I find my wings.
