Addictions

I have personal experience with addictions especially with narcotics. I was addicted to narcotics from the age of 10-31 yrs of age. The key to overcoming addictions is to find a passion that you have for example I had my son and stopped the narcotics for him. I am not saying that it will be easy or that there wont be withdrawl symptoms but afterwards the benefits will for sure out way the drug use. It is hard at first but as the days go by it gets easier. What I have found is that there is always an underlying reason for the drug use. For me it was trying to cover up feelings that I needed to deal with. Never hide feelings because they always come out one way or another. Sometimes the things we need to deal with are the most painful and hurtful. These things could be anywhere from abuse to lose of a loved one. For me it was watching abuse then getting abused then losing a spouse to cancer. My son being born was a life saver and a big eye opener. He opened my eyes to the damage I was doing to my body and relationships. Believe it or not anytime I want to go back to narcotics all I have to do is look at my son. It has been almost 3 years clean and some days are still hard. I was spending $300 a month on pain pills and ended up losing my home, relationships, got kicked out of clinics and labeled a drug seeker for the rest of my life. I realize that drugs and alcohol can help deal with emotional pain but if you don't fully deal with the problem then those buried feelings will always be there. Some people can deal with the problems without help but others need the help. Most of my family has some form of addiction so I do understand why people do drugs or alcohol. There are also times it is better to cut people out of our lives for the sake of our sanity and staying sober. This is called getting rid of toxic relationships. It can be very hard at times but it is well worth it. I just ended a 2 year relationship for my sanity because I wanted to go back to the narcotics. I choose to leave my husband instead. There are more people that are going to be getting kicked out of my life for the sake of my sanity. Remember we all have to do what is best for each of us to stay sober. Sometimes we need to go into treatment and find different friends. We all have inner demons we have to stand up and face and it can be difficult at times. I will use myself as an example, I have bipolar, depression, and seizures, PTSD, and confronting my inner demons at times is very difficult without drugs or alcohol but even though my son doesn't realize it he is my angel and the reason I stay clean. I have kicked many people out of my life because they were toxic and I started realizing that it was the best choice. I have lost people because they don't like who I have become. Sometimes even family can be toxic. My key advice is to take an inventory of the people in your life and see who is supporting you getting clean and who is supporting your habit. By answering the following questions you can tell if the person is toxic or not:

1.How does the person make me feel?

2.Can I be myself with them?

3.Am I honest with them?

4.Can I say what I want with them?

5.How do I feel when they come in the room?

6.Do I feel comfortable with them?

7.How do I feel when they leave?

8.Do I change myself for them?

9.Do I want them to change for me?

10.Do I hide my real feelings or am I open when I'm with them?

11.Do they make me feel less or more then I am?

12.Do I trust them?