Addiction is a horrific disease. I know. I have struggled with it all my life.
When I graduated from the seminary I could not stand a closed collar around my neck. I had terrible anxiety attacks. I saw my doctor and he prescribed pills.
I have always had trouble with overeating. I had a Slovak grandmother who saw food in the stomach as the way to happiness.
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I have been a pastor and chaplain for over 40 years. I have walked with people who have been addicted to alcohol, drugs, work, porn and sex. This disease is a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual problem. The people addicted are not happy people. The more addicted one becomes, the more problems one has.
The saving grace in all this is that there is help for all of us who have addictive personalities. There are all kinds of help groups that let you know you are not in the boat alone. There are people who understand and who stand by to help.
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But, and there is always the but, one has to want to change. You cannot sit on the sidelines and hope some magical thing will make things better. Even prayer, and I know a lot of people who pray, cannot do it alone.
I have been reading about the rise of the use of heroin in our community. There are many other things out there that we can become addicted to. All addiction is a problem. We substitute our real selves and our real world for some drug or activity that will make us, we think, feel better.
It ain't going to happen. Recovery is a day-by-day struggle. Every time I watch a Clint Eastwood western and see him light up a stogy, I want one bad!
A day at a time, a step at a time. A constant work at sobriety and recovery. You can do it. I did.
