After doing everything I need to do, in terms of personal maintenance, light house cleaning and maybe make a breakfast smoothie--made of fresh strawberries, banana, cherries and a little honey, now I'm ready to go to work.
No. I don't punch a clock anymore and am no longer tugging in the corporate game of prestige. Frankly, that was enough to drive me to drink.
But I digress...
Anyway, I sat down to my computer to check and answer emails, check social media and do some marketing...you know work.
The person who helps me sort through emails on my blogs always forwards the significant ones to me. This one was touching...
...here's the screenshot of the email below:
I don't have to tell you have gratifying it was to read an email that basically says someone was touched by it enough to contact me.
I wanted to post it because it proves that though it's good to know statistics so you don't become one of them. However, it's also important to be reminded that addicts are people too.
Notice the points I highlighted. he first talks about finding a blog that "humanizes" addiction. Then he mentions his so-called friend who brings pills, alcohol and pot around him.
Fortunately for him he had a father who believed in him enough to lend him money to move away and get a new start--that was important!
Because his father had faith in him, he found the strength, courage and will to succeed.
All this is important because we tend to forget that addicts are human when they fall into substance abuse.
Before John became addicted to prescription medicines, he was someone's son, brother and maybe someone's father. And that didn't change with addiction. Likewise, Monica is someone's mother, daughter, sister, and wife.
Addiction doesn't change a person's humanity, it demonstrates it.
Addiction demonstrates that life becomes either too hard or too easy at some point and some of us can't handle it. The strong among us can easily support the weak until they can stand again on their own. But 99% of the time that doesn't happen.
This holier-than-thou attitude that controls how we treat people who fall prey to the snares of addiction has to change. We're not qualified to "throw people away" like trash.
You or I may not be an addict, addiction may not have stopped at my or your house...yet, or maybe it has and we don't know about it. But we will if it persists.
Tread lightly with the superiority complex. Statistics says our teenager is probably using prescription drugs right under our noses. It's an epidemic among teens too...didn't you know?
Casual prescription drug abuse is higher among high school kids than it is among adults who get hooked from taking doctor-recommended drugs.
Just thought the high-minded among us should know.
Aside from that, I'm glad to know that this blog is doing what I intended it to do...which is humanize the plight of addicts.
Article was written by Peggy Hatchet James
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