I realize that for many of you this may seem like a silly question, but as a person who is now completely sober, I think it's an interesting question to ask. If you would have asked me five years ago if I was a drug addict, I would have told you NO. But now, looking back at the situation, I realize that I was. I drank alcohol, quite a bit, and smoked cigarettes and wouldn't have considered myself a drug addict? Five years ago, absolutely not. But when you truly think about this, I was. Alcohol is a drug, and I drank everyday. Nicotine is a drug, and I choked down a pack of those bad boys a day as well. So at the end of the day, I was a drug addict.
But this isn't how we're taught to think about this situation is it? We're taught that the term 'drug addict' is reserved for those who engage in things like heroine, cocaine, or meth, right? We're taught by everyone that these are the real drug addicts and alcohol and cigarettes can be dealt with. So, who teaches us these things? Everything that you see or hear in almost any kind of advertising, that's what. Drinking is construed as "cool" and smoking, while not blatantly called "cool" anymore, can still be seen that way. Besides, smoking just fits so well with drinking that they both seem to be pieces of the same puzzle. But the bottom line is that alcohol and cigarettes, especially alcohol, are viewed as ways to 'unwind', rather than something truly negative.
Do you know what I realized after cleaning myself of both practices? I was most certainly a drug addict! I was addicted to both of these drugs. How else could I explain the fact that I was more or less asleep for 10 years? That's what I feel like now. I feel as if I was dreaming during those 10 years. And the bottom line is that rather than going to a physician, I decided to medicate myself.
At the end of the day, I think this question is something we should all consider, because the term 'drug addict' isn't reserved for the so called hard drugs alone. The term should be reserved for all of the foreign substances we put in our body to escape reality. This is why we do it you know? We want to escape that which is real, for something that is fake, and it never works in the long run. It most certainly didn't work for me, and I've never heard anyone say that the reason for their success was the fact that they got hammered every other day, have you? The best definition of addiction that I've ever come across is this: "Addiction is never getting enough of what you don't want" What could be more absurd than that? Yet, that's exactly what I did for more than 10 years. Chased after what I didn't want in the first place. Just ask yourself, "Am I a drug addict?"
