Addiction is Enslavement

There is no positive way to approach this subject, but we need to talk about it. If you are addicted to something, you are a slave to it and whatever provides it. You don't control yourself or your life, they do.

An absolutely tragically high number of people either are addicted to something or know someone who is. Addiction touches nearly everyone's life at some point in some way. If we are not the victim of it ourselves, it is very likely at some point that someone we care about will be. So even if you yourself are not fighting this battle, pay attention. Be aware of what the people around you are struggling with. Be there to pull them out of it. Raise up those around you.

The Shackles Snap Shut

When you are addicted to something, you not only enslave yourself to the usually inanimate object or substance, but also to the source of it. You become willing to sacrifice anything to compensate the source of your addiction in order to obtain it. You surrender your life to the source of your fix, and cease to have control of your own life and decisions. Everything becomes centered around feeding the addiction. And that is no way for anyone to live.

I say this not as someone who has never experienced it and seeks to judge you, but as someone that has lived it and wants to see you and everyone else struggling with it freed from it.

Addiction is one of the ugliest things a human being can experience. It ruins not only your life, but the lives of the people around you. It is a poison that will seep into every area of your life until you are completely consumed by what you are convinced is the need to sate it.

But this is a lie, and an incredibly insidious one at that. The worst part is that your brain and even your body are the ones lying to you. They are telling you that they cannot function without your addiction, that YOU cannot function with your fix. That without it, you will suffer or even die.

As with so many things, however, reaching this point nearly always starts with a choice. Some people are started down the road to addiction by circumstances mostly beyond their control, true. But the vast majority of people who are battling with crippling addictions had a choice to make at one point, and they chose it.

Break the Chains

The good news is that just as being addicted starts with a choice, it can also end with a choice. You and you alone have to decide that today, right now, you're going to take a step towards breaking your addiction.

This can be as small a step as just telling someone you have a problem. That admission alone takes incredibly strength and bravery. There is absolutely no shame in admitting that you need help to break the chains enslaving you. Take pride in the fact that you fought through the false shame and guilt and reached out for that help. Let the people around you help you free yourself.

Do whatever you have to do to break free. Get help. Go to therapy. Go to rehab. Give control of your non-essential funds to someone else until you can make sound decisions. Whatever it takes. Because as long as you are addicted, you are not making sound decisions, and you are not taking your life in the direction that you need to be. Once you are free, you will look back and wonder how you ever thought that the massive waste of time, resources, and energy was worth it. But you have to get there. And you can. You WILL.

If you are addicted to anything, whether it is a chemical, an activity, a habit, or even an unhealthy person, make today the day. Break free today. Get help today. Don't wait another minute. Don't let another day of your life go to waste. There is a while life for you to live, and a whole world for you to experience. You can't do any of it while you are enslaved to something else. Take your life back today, and start working toward becoming your best self. You are stronger than the thing, than the addiction. You always were. You just have to make one choice, today, to act on it.

This is an incredibly sensitive subject for many people. Many of us have experienced horrible tragedy as a result of it. But I welcome anyone who is willing to step forward and share their stories about how they broke free, about how they beat addiction and took back their lives. You never know who might see your story and find the strength to do the same.