I see stuff about addiction & recovery fly across the LinkedIn platform on occasion & they’ll each have well over 50,000 likes. Wow. Well, I’ve been clean from opioids & street drugs for over 10 years, smoke-free for pretty much 6-8 & now alcohol-free for 10 months. I’m what you call a survivor to the nth degree. Matter of fact, you can read all about my compelling story in my latest book. (Age of Aquarius)
Regarding recovery, folks are getting 50,000 likes for being clean 2 months with a whole 50 square mile community rallying behind them for support, & I don’t so much as even get a phone call on my birthday one time a year. That said, I owe my optimal health to no one other than my own fortitude, integrity, self-discipline & drive to stay alive & thrive. I made choices on my own, at the end of the day, to stop abusing substances. I don’t have a support system, never really even did, other than “groups” once in a blue. Over the years, each time a rehab intake sheet would ask me if I had a “support system” in place for my after-care, I would lie. True story.
That said, I decided to take back my power all by myself, & embody my highest good once & for all. It took plenty of good hearty tries for it to stick, but, as you can see, I am evidence of why you should never give up. That said… I have thus earned the right to write articles like the following one. This article was written 3 years ago. I was definitely more rough around the edges then, but, the content here is so poignant & powerful, I think I might slip it into my next book, Part 3 of “The Trilogy of the Ages.”
The following, is the original text: (fasten your seat belt)
“It takes Demi Lovato to get a Narcan shot back to life for people to restart a conversation about addiction? What about Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell, Tom Petty, Michael Jackson, Shannon Hoon, Layne Staley, Scott Weiland, Whitney Houston, Prince & most recently, Anthony Bourdain… shall I go on?? R.I.P. sweet brethren…
Do you know how many times I witnessed right before my eyes… an overdose, someone turn cold, turn blue, drop to the floor, eyes roll back, & First Responders were called to the scene to administer a Narcan shot to save their lives? DOZENS, on the streets of Philadelphia, daily, back in the 90s & early 2000s. Just last year… I found my 19 yr old neighbor keeled over dead from a fentanyl-spiked bag.
What about the 1000s right now, EVERY DAY across the country, dropping like flies, &/or selling their bodies & souls? These people are nameless, faceless, & go unnoticed every single day just because they are “insignificant citizens,” or laypeople, if you will. Dozens right this minute are shooting poison into their veins. Every second in America, kids are getting that deadly sweet rush from a little blue bag or a crushed up opioid pill. Heroin & opioid pills, subutex, suboxone, fentanyl patches, methadone are all one and the same, if ya ask me.
With all due respect… Demi Lovato takes one too many pills, & all of a sudden the news media & online community holds up candles & sets balloons free into the sky & then holds a god-damn conference on the “disease” of addiction & how it’s just like Cancer… but WORSE… they just said on GMA. Wow. What a misnomer, if I ever heard one.
Addiction is NOT A DISEASE. It’s a product of an unhealed society, war, a dysfunctional culture, poverty, low income demographics, a broken educational system, broken family dynamics, abused & mistreated children, cold closed hearts, malnourished souls & unhealthy consumption on all levels. Addiction is a mistake, that must be learned from in order to not repeat. Flawed behavior, flawed patterns & programs… that must be redirected & then rewired. Morbidly obese people feel the same irresistible propensity toward food that “addicts” do toward substance abuse. The only “disease” we should be addressing is the dis-EASE or non peace in the mind, heart, body & soul that resulted from various buried, built up, accrued reasons via past pains & past lives.
In the case of a person in the throes of an active addiction, the “wounded craving center” just so happens to have a louder mouth than the soul’s clear expression.
There is a very easy solution for the problem of addiction… CLEAR TOXIC KARMA, & rebuild from the inside out with SELF LOVE. What is self-love you ask? Well, we learn how to love ourselves properly & efficiently via developing a connection with our higher self. The problem with our society today, is that everyone seems to be “spiritually bankrupt” for all intents & purposes. The only true way to experience self-love is via having a relationship with our light bodies, not just our physical ones. We connect & develop this by learning how to meditate, not self-medicate. We learn mindfulness & gratitude, communion with nature, clean eating, Chakra recalibration, breath & body work, reconnecting with our Divinity.
{Calling all serial rehabers, “lifers,” addicts, keychain & coin holders, Twelve Steppers & the entire demographic of those in & out recovery like it’s a revolving door!}
IN A NUTSHELL: join a wellness center, a hot yoga class, get acupuncture, Reiki, a good massage. Heck… run a friggin’ marathon, join a gym, a dance class, a volleyball team. For the love of God… stir up those trusty endorphins!! Do your due diligence… walk the dog, clean the closets, get out to the park with the kids. Revisit all your half-baked projects, kick yourself in the ass & kick procrastination to the curb. Summon “the fight song” in ya, pursue your greatness, work with a holistic recovery center, shaman, coach, hypnotherapist or healer. Get some balls, get help, ween off the shit. Whittle down your desire, practice a little good old-fashioned self-discipline. CHOOSE to walk down a cleaner path. CHOOSE different people, places, & things. How do ya eat an elephant? One bite at a time. One day at a time.
Relapses happen. So what. Getting up every time we fall, is what MATTERS. One day you just won’t fall ANYMORE. Score!
Why? Cause ADDICTION IS NOT A DISEASE. It is a symptom of a malfunctioning mind that must be rebooted, like you would a computer. If a person wants to be free enough from the merry-go-round of fruitless addiction… They can CHOOSE to walk along a different path. No one is CHAINED to an addictive disposition. Just because nature, nurture, mental illness, depression, criminal behavior, indigence, a bad marriage, bad parents, bad habits, self-pity, or poor education, hygiene & nutrition play a role in keeping a person stuck in a negative pattern of weakness… doesn’t mean an obese person cannot lose weight with diet & exercise. An addictive personality can retrain the brain just as well… if they seek to.
No one said it was a walk in the park, sunshine & daydreams, ice cream cones & lollipops… everything in life is a process, but it sure as shit pays off in the end, & definitely beats hitting rock bottom like a dumb ass every time the high wears off. Come join the grown-ups… we have fun too. Our fun doesn’t crash or withdraw.
NOTE: there is an excellent Health/Wellness/Holistic Recovery Resource Guide in the back of Part 1 & 2 of “The Decline of Civility” books. There you will find Twelve-step alternative programs called: SMART RECOVERY. See below for links. The Latest books are available NOW on Amazon & coming soon to Audible this summer Circa 2021.
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Break the chains HERE
Book on fire! Love wins. 
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