It was written in 2009
Ahhhhhhh GOT YOU!!!
I bet your mind is directed now towards drugs addiction, and a scene of a bunch of guys rolling hash, marijuana, or maybe exhaling heroine, but the fact is addiction is classified into more than one category that we all know, or actually we all perceive.
You can be an addict, yes YOU! If you’re watching your life closely, you’ll notice that one way or another, there is something not natural, that you can’t pass a day without doing, and you stay for long doing it and if you didn’t do it, you will not feel good.
For example, INTERNET! MSN, Facebook, Twitter, and all those social based websites, are almost an addiction to most of us these days, how many of you CAN’T pass the day without checking facebook or msn, and the emphasis is on the word CAN’T, because the difference between can’t and don’t is that, when you don’t want to do something, it’s with all your free will, but when you can’t do something, it’s totally different, it’s like not being able to stop doing it.
So addiction is solely the psychological dependency on anything that makes the mood better, or makes a person feel good. Other examples of addiction could be shopping, working, alcohols, music, gambling, smoking, exercising, pornography, and so on.
Anyway I thought of continuing this article about the drug addiction, how communities perceive addicts and how they perceive sober ones. The reason behind that is, I read a book about addicts and how their lives go, how they start their addiction and so on, but I never believe it, I was like that could never be possible, but then I had the chance to deal with different addicts, some were on white stuff, others were only smoking hashish, but the fact is, all the thoughts and the ideas we have about addicts from being bad, or ilmannered, or not well raised up, are somehow untrue.
I had the chance to interview one of those addicts, who is now sober, and how honored I was talking to him, and upon his request, I will not mention his name, so let me call him now MM.
At first I asked him, is it okay with you to talk? He was very welcoming; he said of course, there is nothing to be ashamed of.
“Addiction is a disease, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is drug addiction, addiction is considered the comfort zone of a human being, that takes him away from all the surroundings, that makes him feel good, and away from all the suffering and troubles of the outer world.” Says MM.
Olivia: How old are you?
MM: I am 23.
Olivia: When did you start taking drugs? Were you smoking before that?
MM: I was very athletic back then, I didn’t smoke, I used to drink beers on occasions, but I never wanted to harm my body, then a friend of mine offered me a joint of Cannabis, I hesitated at first, but my curiosity pushed me into trying it, I kept telling myself, I will only try nothing more, and then when I did, I really enjoyed how it made me feel, it made me feel happy, like there’s nothing to worry about, nothing to be scared of, it made me feel over the moon.
Olivia: How old when did you do that?
MM: I was in 2nd preparatory. (That’s like 13 or 14)
Olivia: why did you do that?
MM: as I told you, I only wanted to try, it was out of curiosity.
Olivia: what were the types you tried?
MM: EVERYTHING. But I always kept on telling myself, it will never be more than smoking, I will never try anything else, but I kept on trying everything, and each time I try something new, I like its effect even better.
Olivia: EVERYTHING? Pills, smoking, shots, everything?
MM: yes everything.
Olivia: How did people see you?
MM: they saw me a very bad person, they used to be scared of me
Olivia: How did you see yourself? How did you feel from the inside?
MM: I didn’t feel anything, I sometimes would think about quitting and then the other day, as if nothing happens, my life was flashes, pictures, nothing constant. And if I asked myself why I did so, I could find a million reasons.
Olivia: Did you ever try to talk to people, those who were scared of you, just to tell them; no I’m not like that?
MM: No, they didn’t matter to me, I didn’t really care about them, and why would I? They are of no benefit to me, they won’t give me what I want, and they won’t make me feel good. I have lots of other friends who are like me, so I never thought about others.
Olivia: What made you start thinking that you should stop?
MM: because it’s not appropriate. There are some people, who smoke or drink alcohols or even do drugs every week or two weeks, but their lives are continuing regularly, and those are called “users”, but I wasn’t like that, addicts are extremist in everything, so they should get their extreme in drugs, and I can’t reach that extreme while I succeed at college or work or live my life normally among people or my family.
Also I want to make something clear, for an addict to stop, s/he should reach the peak point “el-qa3”, where the addict is insulted, treated in a dirty way, “yetbahdel mn el a7’er”, my peak point was a disaster, I had an accident, and I had some bruises in the skull, I was unconscious and I had amnesia. Another time is when I decided to jump from the third floor, on that day, and that was it, no more drugs.
Olivia: who encouraged you to stop?
MM: My family, my mother was the first one to know, and she was the first one who kept on encouraging me to stop, but there is nothing called I’ll stop alone, in order for a person to stop addiction, there is a program to be followed. This one is called NA, which stands for “Narcotics Anonymous”, and it consists of 12 steps, this is the only efficient way for a person to quit addiction, and again it’s not only for drugs addiction , it is also for any kind of addiction, this program is very discrete, even if you have read the ¼ gram book, you’ll notice that the author didn’t get into details about this program. A friend of mine was also encouraging me, that friend was like me, and now he’s sober, so he made me think, that person is living a better life than he used to be when he was an addict, so this should be better, I must stop.
Olivia: would you help someone who’s an addict?
MM: YES!! Because I’ve tried how it is like to be an addict and how it is to be sober, so I will, and I won’t stop or give up!
Olivia: How do people see you now?
MM: They totally respect me; I don’t even smoke a cigarette. They aren’t afraid of me anymore, but it took them time to do so.
Olivia: How long you’ve been sober? How do you see yourself?
MM: It’s been 2 years and a half, and I am totally proud of myself, I couldn’t believe that I would stop, but I am really thankful.
Finally what I want to say is, people STOP making others feel as if they are outcast, an addict doesn’t necessarily mean that he/she is a bad person; it’s all about the circumstances and the surroundings. I don’t mean that we should encourage it, or that it’s not a bad thing, but it is a disease, just like cancer or diabetes, okay nobody pushed them into doing it, but maybe they were lost, maybe they were fragile, maybe they were trying to hide from something. Always give reasons and excuses before pushing them off, help them so that when you face yourself one day, you’d feel good in front of yourself and that you did your part.
You are no angel yourself, each one has his/her own disease, don’t point out fingers of condemnation against others, till you look deep down into yourself.
I would like to end it with a verse from the Holy Bible, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7
I bet your mind is directed now towards drugs addiction, and a scene of a bunch of guys rolling hash, marijuana, or maybe exhaling heroine, but the fact is addiction is classified into more than one category that we all know, or actually we all perceive.
You can be an addict, yes YOU! If you’re watching your life closely, you’ll notice that one way or another, there is something not natural, that you can’t pass a day without doing, and you stay for long doing it and if you didn’t do it, you will not feel good.
For example, INTERNET! MSN, Facebook, Twitter, and all those social based websites, are almost an addiction to most of us these days, how many of you CAN’T pass the day without checking facebook or msn, and the emphasis is on the word CAN’T, because the difference between can’t and don’t is that, when you don’t want to do something, it’s with all your free will, but when you can’t do something, it’s totally different, it’s like not being able to stop doing it.
So addiction is solely the psychological dependency on anything that makes the mood better, or makes a person feel good. Other examples of addiction could be shopping, working, alcohols, music, gambling, smoking, exercising, pornography, and so on.
Anyway I thought of continuing this article about the drug addiction, how communities perceive addicts and how they perceive sober ones. The reason behind that is, I read a book about addicts and how their lives go, how they start their addiction and so on, but I never believe it, I was like that could never be possible, but then I had the chance to deal with different addicts, some were on white stuff, others were only smoking hashish, but the fact is, all the thoughts and the ideas we have about addicts from being bad, or ilmannered, or not well raised up, are somehow untrue.
I had the chance to interview one of those addicts, who is now sober, and how honored I was talking to him, and upon his request, I will not mention his name, so let me call him now MM.
At first I asked him, is it okay with you to talk? He was very welcoming; he said of course, there is nothing to be ashamed of.
“Addiction is a disease, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is drug addiction, addiction is considered the comfort zone of a human being, that takes him away from all the surroundings, that makes him feel good, and away from all the suffering and troubles of the outer world.” Says MM.
Olivia: How old are you?
MM: I am 23.
Olivia: When did you start taking drugs? Were you smoking before that?
MM: I was very athletic back then, I didn’t smoke, I used to drink beers on occasions, but I never wanted to harm my body, then a friend of mine offered me a joint of Cannabis, I hesitated at first, but my curiosity pushed me into trying it, I kept telling myself, I will only try nothing more, and then when I did, I really enjoyed how it made me feel, it made me feel happy, like there’s nothing to worry about, nothing to be scared of, it made me feel over the moon.
Olivia: How old when did you do that?
MM: I was in 2nd preparatory. (That’s like 13 or 14)
Olivia: why did you do that?
MM: as I told you, I only wanted to try, it was out of curiosity.
Olivia: what were the types you tried?
MM: EVERYTHING. But I always kept on telling myself, it will never be more than smoking, I will never try anything else, but I kept on trying everything, and each time I try something new, I like its effect even better.
Olivia: EVERYTHING? Pills, smoking, shots, everything?
MM: yes everything.
Olivia: How did people see you?
MM: they saw me a very bad person, they used to be scared of me
Olivia: How did you see yourself? How did you feel from the inside?
MM: I didn’t feel anything, I sometimes would think about quitting and then the other day, as if nothing happens, my life was flashes, pictures, nothing constant. And if I asked myself why I did so, I could find a million reasons.
Olivia: Did you ever try to talk to people, those who were scared of you, just to tell them; no I’m not like that?
MM: No, they didn’t matter to me, I didn’t really care about them, and why would I? They are of no benefit to me, they won’t give me what I want, and they won’t make me feel good. I have lots of other friends who are like me, so I never thought about others.
Olivia: What made you start thinking that you should stop?
MM: because it’s not appropriate. There are some people, who smoke or drink alcohols or even do drugs every week or two weeks, but their lives are continuing regularly, and those are called “users”, but I wasn’t like that, addicts are extremist in everything, so they should get their extreme in drugs, and I can’t reach that extreme while I succeed at college or work or live my life normally among people or my family.
Also I want to make something clear, for an addict to stop, s/he should reach the peak point “el-qa3”, where the addict is insulted, treated in a dirty way, “yetbahdel mn el a7’er”, my peak point was a disaster, I had an accident, and I had some bruises in the skull, I was unconscious and I had amnesia. Another time is when I decided to jump from the third floor, on that day, and that was it, no more drugs.
Olivia: who encouraged you to stop?
MM: My family, my mother was the first one to know, and she was the first one who kept on encouraging me to stop, but there is nothing called I’ll stop alone, in order for a person to stop addiction, there is a program to be followed. This one is called NA, which stands for “Narcotics Anonymous”, and it consists of 12 steps, this is the only efficient way for a person to quit addiction, and again it’s not only for drugs addiction , it is also for any kind of addiction, this program is very discrete, even if you have read the ¼ gram book, you’ll notice that the author didn’t get into details about this program. A friend of mine was also encouraging me, that friend was like me, and now he’s sober, so he made me think, that person is living a better life than he used to be when he was an addict, so this should be better, I must stop.
Olivia: would you help someone who’s an addict?
MM: YES!! Because I’ve tried how it is like to be an addict and how it is to be sober, so I will, and I won’t stop or give up!
Olivia: How do people see you now?
MM: They totally respect me; I don’t even smoke a cigarette. They aren’t afraid of me anymore, but it took them time to do so.
Olivia: How long you’ve been sober? How do you see yourself?
MM: It’s been 2 years and a half, and I am totally proud of myself, I couldn’t believe that I would stop, but I am really thankful.
Finally what I want to say is, people STOP making others feel as if they are outcast, an addict doesn’t necessarily mean that he/she is a bad person; it’s all about the circumstances and the surroundings. I don’t mean that we should encourage it, or that it’s not a bad thing, but it is a disease, just like cancer or diabetes, okay nobody pushed them into doing it, but maybe they were lost, maybe they were fragile, maybe they were trying to hide from something. Always give reasons and excuses before pushing them off, help them so that when you face yourself one day, you’d feel good in front of yourself and that you did your part.
You are no angel yourself, each one has his/her own disease, don’t point out fingers of condemnation against others, till you look deep down into yourself.
I would like to end it with a verse from the Holy Bible, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7