Here’s an activity I do with young people who are in treatment for abusing substances:
Write down all of the words you can think of that have to do with being under the influence of a substance : “being messed up, tipsy, drunk, high, etc..” Take your time and write down any you can think of. You may want to ask friends and family to help you with this as well – get everyone that you can involved in coming up with some words.
When you think you have written down all that you can, get out a new piece of paper. Now write down all of the words you can think of that describe being sober.
Can you guess which list is always shorter?
Our culture romanticizes the idea of intoxication through our advertising, our music, our films, and with the language that we use. And these messages are not only increasing, but they are also becoming part of our children’s lives at much earlier ages because of the increased technology in our everyday lives.
I believe that now more than ever, parents and caregivers need to step up and talk about drugs and alcohol with the kids in their lives. If we don’t, they are going to get the wrong ideas, and they may just end up altering their young lives forever because of something that they simply did not understand. The accidents and assaults and sexual abuse and arrests and deaths that result from young people who did not have correct information all have one thing in common. They are all avoidable. And it is time to do more to prevent these things.
My favorite word for being intoxicated from a substance is “wasted”. It seems accurate, because so much is wasted by using and abusing these things. Over the years, and in working with countless people trying to recover from addiction, this word comes up very frequently. They all feel as if they wasted so much time while using substances.
But time is not the only thing that substance use and abuse wastes. It also wastes money. And health. And most importantly, it wastes a person’s true potential. When someone enters treatment, they have always lost things. Sometimes these losses are just beginning “like the loss of a job because of their drinking, or the loss of a driver’s license because of their first D.U.I.”. But sometimes the losses are much greater “loss of their freedom due to incarceration after several D.U.I.’s, or loss of a marriage, or loss of a home.” Addiction is just like any other progressive illness, it will only get worse unless it is treated. And as the addiction worsens, so too do the things that are lost and wasted along the way.
Most of the patients I have worked with over the years are really good people. Hard working people. Mothers and fathers and sons and daoughters who have had friends, and jobs, and people who loved them, and whom they loved dearly. Many were on their way to some type of happiness in life until it all got torn down over time by the progression of their addiction. I often compare the process in early recovery to that of a house that has been destroyed in a fire or tornado. You need to sift through the wreckage and the waste in order to find the things that are salvageable. And then you take those things and move on, building upon the things that withstood the disaster, and finding others who have been through similar losses to help along the way. But these storms and fires all could have been prevented long before they caused irreparable harm.
The truth about using any substance is that it really does not lead to productive things. It is, literally, wasting time. And the more time and effort a person spends using these things, the more things that will be wasted, and the greater the chance becomes of abusing or becoming dependent on the drug over time. Here is a link that shows the common and predictable course that abuse and addiction follows over time:
http://www.networksvt.org/PROGRESSION_OF_ADDICTION.htm
I was one of your Angels that have found a new way of life full of miracles everyday !
Thanks Brian. This was great. Wish this was mandatory reading . . . for everyone.
Your activity would be good for our ATOD Awareness classes. Yes, sometimes it is hard to draw out that latent spark of goodness in a person. Thank you for seeking the good and nurturing it to wellness.