CHOICES
One of the things I really love about being clean and sober is having choices. In addiction choices are taken away from you and made for you by the drug.
Now I know some would say but you choose to use but that is not really the case. Sure when you fist have a beer or a bong or a shot you make that choice to try it. In addiction you don’t choose to use. It becomes a compulsion, a necessity. You find yourself not wanting to use yet still doing it anyway. When you get to that stage you either stop or you die. Though I don’t go to meetings I have read all the literature from AA, NA and GA and one line in the NA 12x12 says. "We live to use and use to live" and that sums it up perfectly. Life becomes all about maintaining your high and a miserable life it is.
Having lived that life for many years I can now fully appreciate the life I have now and the simple choices I have that most would take for granted. From something as simple as choosing a topic for a blog entry or whether to have a coffee after work, to deciding where to go on my next holiday, these are choices I never had in addiction.
Freedom to make choices is truly one of our greatest gifts. One most people take for granted. Only when the freedom to make choices is taken away from you can you really appreciate them.
Now I know some would say but you choose to use but that is not really the case. Sure when you fist have a beer or a bong or a shot you make that choice to try it. In addiction you don’t choose to use. It becomes a compulsion, a necessity. You find yourself not wanting to use yet still doing it anyway. When you get to that stage you either stop or you die. Though I don’t go to meetings I have read all the literature from AA, NA and GA and one line in the NA 12x12 says. "We live to use and use to live" and that sums it up perfectly. Life becomes all about maintaining your high and a miserable life it is.
Having lived that life for many years I can now fully appreciate the life I have now and the simple choices I have that most would take for granted. From something as simple as choosing a topic for a blog entry or whether to have a coffee after work, to deciding where to go on my next holiday, these are choices I never had in addiction.
Freedom to make choices is truly one of our greatest gifts. One most people take for granted. Only when the freedom to make choices is taken away from you can you really appreciate them.
posted by Darren at 6:40 PM
1 Comments:
I quite liked your piece on choices,however it has been bothering me for a while,and i'm sure others will agree.There is another serious addiction,which is legally sort and that is cigarettes.And yes that is also a choice,but also it is an addiction,my point is that it bothers me when people talk,write about addictions & leave out cigarettes which are also an addiction
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