29/10/2022
: HERE IS WHAT ADDICTION LOOKS LIKE
Few years ago, I visited a friend's workshop to discuss some opportunities with him. His workshop was in a semi business area so there were people transacting their businesses there as well.
While we were still discussing, a lady, whom I supposed is in her early twenties collapsed.
I watched from a distance as people gathered round her, pouring water on her and making every effort to restore her back to consciousness.
Few minutes later, words began to come out; that she got a message from her boyfriend stating that it was over between them.
Most of us can relate to this phenomenon.
At some point in our lives, our hearts were broken by the people we adored. Frankly, it is unbearable. Some people go as far as committing su***de.
At that point in our lives, the only thing that could bring relief to our soul is our beloved coming back.
Why do we feel that way?
It is entirely about our experience with that person. It is about the amazing things we did together, which our minds tricked us into believing that the reason we had so much fun was that person.
Psychoactive substances creates even stronger bonds, it means more than a boyfriend or a girlfriend to many people who come to realise that it does for them what they literally cannot do for themselves.
In hindsight, psychoactive substances improves appetite, increases strength, relieves emotional/physical/psychological pain, gives confidence, takes away worry and principally aids traumatized individuals to bare to be present in their lives.
then, should anyone advocate against a thing as rewarding as alcohol and other substances?
1. All these rewards are short term; long-term consequences outweighs short-term rewards.
2. Psychoactive Substances Take a Toll on People's Lives:
Diana recounts... "I really never was thought anything about drugs. I just knew that my mum was a user. The first time I got high was a conscious decision. I went out that night to get high... me and my first kid's dad broke up because I found out that he was cheating on me.
"I took my first hit on M**h (crack) that night, it was powerful. It makes everything kind of go away - everything that I was thinking about.
"That first high is the only really good high you will get. You will never feel as good as you did; the whole rest of the time you are using, you'll just be chasing that first high. Even when the people in your life are worried about you and you hear people talking about how upset your family and friends are, they become the enemy. It felt so good, it couldn't hurt I thought.
"I don't steal from people, I am not scandalous, I am sane and talented you know... within 6 months, my electricity was off, my house was filthy, I was neglecting my child. You just can't connect with your kids when you are high you know. I had two pregnancies and it was never a problem not to use. It was weird how those times I couldn't control it...
"I wasn't even thinking what I will do if it blew off my baby's heart you know, I wasn't thinking about how bad it will be if my baby die inside of me... she sobs
"I was worried about it and that drove me to get high even more... you don’t want to think about it. That is not me at all, that is not me..."
“You believe that getting high will increase your perception, that it will allow you to surpass yourself, that you will be able to control things. It’s bloody nonsense! After a while you don’t pay your bills anymore, you don’t wash yourself anymore, you give up your friends, your family. You will become defenseless and alone.”
"Addiction is like one of those bad dreams you can have: you don’t know when or how you got there, but you’re there. It seems like yesterday we were in pre-school, then we blinked and we were full-blown addicts. How did we get here? We didn’t become drug addicts and alcoholics overnight, or even over a couple of weeks or month. From the first moment we touched drug or booze, the progression into addiction began. Every day, we became a little more of an addict, a little less of our former selves."
3. Psychoactive Substances are Addictive.
Psychoactive substances are addictive. When one becomes addicted to these substances, they take on the same significance as other survival behaviours such as eating and drinking; and whichever drug one is addicted to, the uncontrollable craving to use grows more important than anything else, including family, friends, school, career and even own's health and happiness.
[This animation was made by Andreas Hykade from Germany]
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