Addiction | Teen Ink

Addiction

October 31, 2014
By Kristin.bailey BRONZE, Greendale, Wisconsin
Kristin.bailey BRONZE, Greendale, Wisconsin
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Quite a few  people have the misconception that an addict  is simply a lowlife  druggie that chooses to do drugs on a day in and day out basis. Addiction is in fact an incurable disease, just like other diseases it can be hereditary. If someone has a relative who’s addicted to drugs they may have a higher risk of becoming an addict. Even if addiction is not yet visible in the family doesn't mean you’re safe and in the clear zone. One does simply become an addict overnight it happens over a period of time. More than likely throughout an addict's life, including early childhood, they showed the presence of addictive behaviors. No one chooses to become an addict, addiction chooses you. I myself happen to contribute to the population of addicts, and this is how we live.


An addict is a person who relies on mind-altering or mood-changing substances in order to cope with life, “we live to use and use to live.”. We live with a progressive disease, if left untreated, the  ends are always the same: jails, initiations, and death. Addiction causes us to live in isolation from people except when it comes to finding, getting, and using drugs. We become hostile, resentful, self-centered, and self-seeking as we removed ourselves from the harsh reality of society by coping with drugs. As we  sank deeper into our addiction we cared about drugs more than anything else,  it was the only way of life we knew.


In order to feed our addiction and get drugs we manipulated people, we lied, we stole, and we did anything, horrible things as long as it meant our needs were met. We became powerless over our addiction, and our lives had become unmanageable.  We became the person we told ourselves we'd never become. Denial and rationalization became an automatic way of thinking and acting. When we made a bad judgment/act we would rationalize it, trying to cover our tracks and avoid humility. We denied the seriousness of what we were doing and told yourself/ others that its really okay. We became sick of ourselves, lonely and full of fear.  Self-pity is one of the most destructive emotions in our situation it drains us of any positive energy we’ve managed to salvage. Failure is the only life we know and we focus on everything that doesn't go our way and don’t see any of the beauty in our lives.


Life doesn't have to be like this anymore, you can recover. Recovery is just about one of the hardest tasks you will face in your life. You have to change every aspect of your using life, your attitude, ways of thinking, beliefs, and completley leaving your using friends behind for they will only be a trigger to use drugs and will only bring you down. “normal” people may think that its easy to quit that you simply “just do it” but believe me, it takes a lifetime to recover and you never become cured, You won’t be in active addiction but you will always be an addict, a recovering addict at that. And let me tell you, it feels good to be in recovery. I love it.



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