Not easy, no not easy at all. Addiction is just now being recognized as a disease and it’s about time. The problem with it being a disease is, it is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. Therefore making it all the more painful, confusing, and demoralizing.
Everybody knows the first step to getting better is to recognize the addiction (disease). Now the next step to helping the addict is getting the rest of the world or more specifically their family to recognize the addiction as a disease.
I can agree but only to a point. When looking back at your addiction and the “living nightmare” it created, can you honestly say you didn’t care enough about the people you loved? Maybe it was that way for you my friend but I think not. I think you cared but did not know how to get a hold of the cure. When looking at addiction as a disease it changes many things when it comes to relationships, thought processes, and even the way we perceive spirituality.
Obviously there is a lot more we could talk about and I mean no disrespect to you my brother and congrats on 10 years clean. I’m 6 years clean.
THIS IS A GREAT TOPIC AND I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO HEAR WHAT Y’ALL THINK.
I would really like to hear what you think if you are the person that has to deal with an addict.
That is a great sentence and I agree but taking it a step further people need to realize that addiction is a Disease and I don’t know anybody that had a choice when it came to disease.
We all have our viewpoints on this topic. This thread will be a lot more forgiving than the SOU thread! At least someone might learn something worthwhile and life changing for the good on this thread.
That is really difficult for people that have been hurt by some’s addiction, because it can obviously be very had to understand and forgive people that do really bad things perceived to be “of their own free will” even though the disease of addiction clearly states that the mind is altered to act for the benefit of the addiction.
I do get it Dan, and understand exactly what you are saying. But for the victim of a crime where an addicted person stole valuables and damaged property to get a fix, or bankrupted their family to feed the addiction, physically hurt someone in an altered state, etc. it’s definitely hard to ask people to be understanding. I can only state that it is a very big deal when an addict recovers, and those affected also come to understanding and forgiveness. Kudos to ‘both sides’.
OOhh… the people I hurt… I’m not advocating the absolution of dirty deeds done in the throws of addiction and I am guilty, guilty I say and I don’t have all the answers. I’m not even sure I have any answers. What I do have though, is forgiveness. I forgive myself, which just so happens to be the most difficult person to forgive.
Forgiveness though is different than knowledge.
That’s the crux of it though ain’t it? I am lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful family. It’s known that addiction will stunt your emotional growth and when someone starts recovery they are basically the same emotional age they were when first becoming an addict. Again, luckily, I was already a grown man when confronted with my first steps into addiction and I worked and held a job to support my addiction.
There is so much to say on this subject that I am at a loss for words.
First off, I’m a former smoking addict. I do not have first hand knowledge of opioid or alcohol addiction, and although you guys have said they are similar enough to ‘count’, I still don’t quite see them on the same level. Smoking is a ‘quiet addiction’, one that typically is not associated with criminal activity or extreme loss of lifestyle. So my postings here should probably be disclaimed or discounted. But I have a big mouth and type relatively quickly, so I continue to pontificate.
My wife and I were companion smokers- the only two adults that I am aware of that knew we smoked. We were not willing to be open about it. Sure, among strangers and even co-workers, we did not care. But family was never told. Also, the children were still young and did not know (that I am aware of) that we smoked. We were as careful as possible at home. Still though, we were both so overcome with guilt that after we quit, we bought the kids gifts and did a lot of activities with them. They even asked what the deal was, but we just said (honestly) that we love them and they are the world to us. I’ve never had to stand before an adult family member and discuss the embarrassment I will always feel. So I just lay it on you folks.
At least someone might learn something worthwhile and life changing for the good on this thread. 
