The waves of emotions still ebb and flow as people continue to reach out with words of encouragement and empathetic comments.
It’s been a several weeks since publishing my article, “Seeking a Life Free of Addiction Started with a Choice“, and the messages keep coming. None is more overwhelming than the private messages recounting of ‘blackout’ nights, broken families, and worse, the death of loved ones through abuse of alcohol and drugs.
Pursuit of Happiness or Pursuit of ‘Me’
My want to stop drinking alcohol all started as a choice – as simple as it was to make, it was anything but easy. The support networks I sought out didn’t jive with who I was nor with who I was trying to be, which left me wondering, “What do I do?” And based on those that have reached out, there’s a lot of people in the same place I was years ago when I made my choice to stop drinking.
My personal video message shared on Facebook on April 20:
As a result, I’ve been in weekly discussions with Saint Jude Retreats, an organization dedicated to helping people gain control over their own lives, and effect lasting changes in their attitudes, motivations, choices and behaviors. They’ve been inspired to look further into how they can best serve people who may be struggling with their own substance use issues.
The belief we share is that of the many people struggling see “addiction” as some sort of incurable disease. That along with high failure rates and counter-intuitive methods of traditional treatments, many may simply not even attempt to find the best methods for help. And to be fair, it may be difficult for people to truly know the best way to go about trying to help a family member or friend who’s struggling because they may not have any experience with feeling hopeless and trapped.
When it comes to addiction, there’s 2 types of people
In my experience in working with Saint Jude’s, based on the feedback I’ve received, there are two types of people: those that BELIEVE THEY CAN overcome addiction and those who BELIEVE THEY CAN’T.
Based on the overwhelming feedback, comments and outreach from my communities and the media, I feel it necessary to get some deeper insights from you, my tribe. To best help, I need to better understand what people think about addiction, and what better way to do that than with a survey.
The survey consists of 10 questions, mostly multiple choice and takes only a couple of minutes to complete.
Armed with your responses I will be working with Saint Jude Retreats to create more resources including articles and videos, to better help those who face struggles similar to that which I experienced for much of my life. Thank you for your help.
Special note, as a thank you for taking the time to complete the survey, I want to personally offer you a special gift. Check out the survey to see.
Take the #AddictionFreeLife Survey by clicking the button below.
In Closing
I’m like everyone else and experience low moments in life and at those times I find myself questioning my choices. The Dai of years ago would have reached for a bottle to numb the emotions of uncertainty, since the Dai of today (besides speaking in 3rd person) remembers the important choices and decisions made in his life.
The journey I’ve found myself on has had it’s up days and down days. When I find myself having one of those days, I reach out to those that matter most to me in my life – my wife, my children, my tribe – their unconditional love, support and friendship reminds me of my decision to choose ‘me’ first.
Having a positive outlet to bring you back to a place of gratefulness and appreciation for life, and all the awesomeness it holds for us, is key.
Thank you for choosing you, too.
If you missed it, below is the Talk Recovery radio interview I did with Last Door Society following my earlier post. Have a listen and leave a comment below with your thoughts.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to respond to the 10 quick questions in my survey.
Do you have a story to share with me? Please feel free to email me privately or share your comments below.
If you, or anyone you know, resonate with any of the information shared in this post, do not hesitate to reach out for more information. Call my friends at Saint Jude’s at 877-958-3310 or reach out to them directly via www.SoberForever.net — don’t bother waiting, don’t seek out the advice of others, simply make the decision to choose you and your health first, you deserve happiness.
FREE RESOURCES for Substance Users and Family Members
FREE E-BOOK FOR THE FAMILY
This e-book provides family members of substance users with a completely unique and common sense approach to helping their loved one while simultaneously gaining back the focus and freedom for their own lives.
FREE E-BOOK FOR THE SUBSTANCE USER
It is Saint Jude Retreat’s mission since 1989 to provide a research based program to help you move beyond your current self-limiting habits and achieve a sustained balance in your life driven by your own freely chosen goals and dreams.
This post is sponsored by Saint Jude Retreats. The opinions and views are wholly my own…
And to be absolutely clear, this is my disclaimer: “Just so you know, I have been compensated to share my ideas on this topic. Sometimes it is in the form of products, or services or even money… But here’s the thing; I won’t share anything with you that I don’t fully support. It doesn’t matter what it is, or how much they are willing to give me, if I don’t believe in it, It won’t be on my site. Seriously. You’ll just have to trust me on this.” ~ Coach Moose
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