Teenage Drug abuse - Once an addict, always an addict?

Once an addict, always an addict?

I prefer to be identified as having a “Substance Use Disorder ,” but to each their own I suppose!

I saw someone posted this on my Facebook account yesterday.

Well I am SO NOT perfect but I understand and if I could help someone– maybe they could help me. Trust me dude– once an addict– ALWAYS an addict. And we in our souls KNOW we are not perfect no matter HOW good any one else thinks we are doing…

This last sentence was brutally honest and important.

Sometimes we addicts in recovery are in fact doing quite well and we have found our way to peace. However, sometimes we have not. If we have not yet found that peace that has been long so elusive to us, we must not despair. It will come!

If you are reading this and are the loved one of an addict, just so you know, it would pain us to have you think otherwise of us in the meantime. After all, we are tired of being known as “the addict.” Having you think we might be slipping in any areas of our recovery means us having to be identified by those words even longer. Yuck! You see, we hate disappointing the ones we love often more than we hate disappointing ourselves. “Once an addict always an addict,” is only half the truth. Yes we are addicts, but this should not define us entirely. What about handsome or charming? Did you forget about those words? At the very least, most of us prefer to be seen as an “addict in recovery.” Or as having a “Substance Use Disorder,” Just so you know! And although most of us know that in order for our recovery to last, it must be for ourselves first foremost; we often try and try again as a means to not let those who love us, down again and again. Eventually we learn that the key to having recovery for ourselves is to make that recovery for ourselves only.

Let’s expand just a little deeper on what it’s like to be an addict. Most of us addicts have very similar traits you know. A lot of us are of the sensitive type. We wear our hearts on our sleeves. How many times have you heard someone else talk about someone that they know who is abusing drugs? Often the conversation is about how truly wonderful they are as a person while not using. Also, and unbelievably to some, a lot of us hold above average IQ’s. Yup, those metrics have been gathered long ago and have been proven time and time again. We also have a tendency to be extremely creative. We have no problems tapping in to our creative sense and often times; others see our work as brilliant. Case in point, look back at all the music and traditional artists, actors, etc, that have been known to struggle with the disease of addiction. Their works have often been the most memorable.

BUT………

As noted in the Facebook comment above, most of us are indeed always struggling. Doing well at times yes, but fighting our “stinking thinking’” – almost always. Recovery is a constant battle. Until we are able to find peace, we are always in the midst of trying to hold onto it. If it’s not struggling with drugs, it’s struggling with our eating habits. If it is not our eating habits, it’s struggling with our OCD. If it’s not our OCD than it’s our lying. If it not our lying, it is our hoarding, and so on and so on. But you know what’s great about this entire struggle? What’s great about it is that we are working at it. Becoming stronger. We are ever evolving and always maturing. The great thing about being an addict in recovery is that we know this and have become strong enough to continue improving ourselves, shedding the undesired behaviors, and becoming some of the most truly remarkable people in our communities. So if you are an addict in recovery, be proud, you’re beautiful and remarkable! Carry the torch and when you’re ready, strong enough, and when you finally “get it’” please pass it on to someone behind you! That’s more than what most of the world’s population is ever willing to do.

So “Once an addict, always an addict? I prefer to be identified as having a
“Substance Use Disorder,” but to each their own I suppose!

-Super Star

www.superstarsuperstar.com

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