EPTThanks for taking the time to take a look at my blog. The following entries will be focused around the most important battle of my life: my fight with addiction. Now, I have seen at least 2 different blogs here that are focused around the same subject so I would like to say thanks so those who have come before me for inspiring this blog. Like them, my hope is that by talking a little bit (or a lot) about my story and lessons I've learned I will be able to continue to wage war against my addiction and perhaps even help someone else stay sober. For those who don't deal with addiction personally, perhaps I might be able to offer some insight for you in terms of dealing with someone in your life who struggles with addiction. Needless to say this is a problem that is becoming more and more widespread and nearly everyone I know has either dealt with an addict personally or they've at least heard about someone dealing with addiction.
Truth be told, my honest opinion is that the vast majority of society in general is comprised of addicts in one form or another. Whether its TV, the internet, chocolate, sex, caffeine, cough medicine, or gambling, most people fail to live truly balanced and healthy lives. In that sense, I hope that I might be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the tools I've been able to use in my own life to try and bring back a semblance of balance. Foremost among the resources I've been able to utilize, other human beings have proven to be among the most valuable. Because of that, AA/NA meetings and the 12 step program have proven to be extremely valuable assets to my sobriety, in spite of how much I resisted even contemplating the program, let alone the idea of following it!
Now believe me, I am not here in some attempt to preach the word of AA/NA. While I might talk about how these groups helped me in my recovery, the purpose of these entries is not to advertise the 12 step program. I just want to share (among other things) how I made the progression from someone who fought against the program tooth and nail (because they are a cult and I'm a super cool free-thinker who won't be brain-washed) to someone who can step back and realize the real reasons the 12 steps work for certain people. Essentially, to show how I went from being completely closed off to the program and most things that I didn't understand 100% to being able to sit back independently of my personal preferences and integrate new information into my understanding of the world. Whew!
Believe it or not, I'm also trying to use these entries as a venue for improving my writing skills. One of the most important things I'm working on is being able to say more with less words. I'm well aware of the fact that I tend to use way more words and syllables than necessary and I'm working on it. I also like to try and keep my vocabulary fresh and churning out content is one of the best means I have at developing a vocab that constantly evolves. I can get into cycles of writing where I repeat certain phrases and other chunks of sentences in the exact same way 10 times in a row in a paragraph. But I digress...
Here is a little breakdown of some of the things I'll be tackling in the entries that follow this introduction (not necessarily in this order):
1) The notion of addiction and its real prevalence in the world
2) What is addiction? Choice vs Disease theories and my take on the whole thing
3) Valuable resources for addicts (meditation, groups, nutritional therapy etc)
4) My story and ways to ID an addict
5) My experiences at rehab and how to make the most of it IMO
6) The neuroscience behind addiction
These are just some of things I hope to address in the entries to come. Thanks if you even took the time to read this. Basically, I'm just going to be starting up a blog about the above subjects and I hope that some people will be able to find it useful. In my opinion, anyone should be able to glean something of value because almost all of us deal with some kind of imbalance in our lives in some way or another. Just my opinion though!
In case you are wondering, why in the hell would anyone care about what I have to say about addiction? Well, I'm a recovering addict who is about 12 hours away from a VERY VALUABLE Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. I've taken the maximum amount of Neuroscience/Psychobio classes possible while not getting a degree in that field because I'm a slacker without the resolve to buckle down for the chem series of classes. I've been struggling with heroin/opiate/alcohol addiction for the past 7 years and I've been through treatment at 2 different facilities. So I've got some book learnin' and some street learnin' in regards to addiction. Perhaps I can offer some mildly amusing anecdotes regarding my experiences and maybe even some advice that somebody finds useful.
Thanks again. See ya later
