On the continuum of mental health that runs from emotional and mental chaos on one end to rigidity on the other, addiction lies painfully on the rigid end. Addictions are created both to numb painful emotions as well as to endeavor. . .
Never are we the same person that we were yesterday; at least incrementally we are always changing—emotionally and physically. Physically, most of the cells in our body imperceptibly die and replace themselves continuously. . .
At their most basic level, addictions are based on dependence upon external sources to relieve internal emotional discomfort. Over time, these dependencies often become obsessions with particular substances or behaviors, sometimes complicated by physiological dependence, but they remain, at their core, an attempt at internal regulation. . .
In many ways, today’s quotation could be read by replacing “self-discipline” with “addiction recovery” and it would become a very apt description of healthy recovery. Recovery is so much more than keeping ourselves away from that to which we are addicted. . .
Recovery from addiction, just like any other form of emotional growth, is rooted in the process of discarding the aspects of ourselves that are getting in the way of achieving our goals. While it may seem that we are primarily discarding the substances or behaviors that we are addicted to. . .
There is altogether too much emphasis put on the subject of our addictions—on the substances or behaviors through which the addiction expresses itself. This emphasis is evident in our general insistence that traditional abstinence be a necessary component of recovery for everyone seeking treatment, regardless of their individual situation . . .
Inherent in every painful situation is the opportunity for change. And our addictions, viewed in this light, present one of the most blatant opportunities to make changes in our lives . . .
Whether we know it or not, if we have an addictive relationship to something, we have put our trust in that thing. We have, often unwittingly, allowed that thing to take over for important emotional processes that we must learn to take responsibility for if we are to successfully let go of our addiction . . .
The pursuit of addiction recovery is, in many ways, the pursuit of personal truth. Our addictions ultimately exist as patterns created to cover up an underlying emotional reality that is painful in some way; they endeavor to create a false reality . . .
If we humans naturally moved toward healthy decisions and behaviors, we would not have to take such pains to learn to change addictive patterns—we would simply change. But the truth is that we naturally move toward what is familiar . . .