I understand that you didn’t choose this path. I know you didn’t wake up one day and think, “Hey, a drug addiction sounds fun.” I see that everyone is judging you and making you out to be a just another “junkie,” or a selfish person who chose drugs over your family. You know it wasn’t a lifestyle choice – you ended up on the path because you are in some kind of pain. Your parents are telling you to stop. You’ve lost the friends you used to have, and your current ones are in just as much pain ... Read More about To The Addict – I Understand
Search Results for: addict
Because It Matters: How Are You Coping?
No, you’re not losing it, and you’re not alone
by Kristin Schlegel
How are you dealing with your loss?
Have you shut down, barricaded yourself in your home and stopped living life?
Are you self-medicating to drown out the pain?
Are you taking medication and visiting weekly with a therapist?
Have you taken your grief on the road and turned it into a non-profit to help others?
Have you found faith or lost your faith?
What does your motivation for getting out of bed each morning look like to you?
Friend, I’m with you. This grief, this dealing ... Read More about
Because It Matters: How Are You Coping?
No, you’re not losing it, and you’re not alone
No Goodbyes: Losing My Grandson To Adoption
Sadness is my constant companion
His little arms reached up to hug me, and as I reached down to kiss his puckered lips I had no idea that it would be the last time I saw my grandson, “E.”
If I had known, would I have hugged him longer? Would I have breathed in his sweet baby smell and looked at every last detail of his face to commit it to memory?
When my daughter lost her rights to my grandson I dropped my custody case because I believed his foster mother and I were friends.
I knew that she planned to adopt him, and I believed ... Read More about
No Goodbyes: Losing My Grandson To Adoption
Sadness is my constant companion
On Those Rumors: When You Talk About The Son Who Was Mine
I lost my son. He was 39-years-old, fighting mental health and addiction issues. It was an ongoing battle that most people in my small town were aware of. We were once again on a journey to get things right after a long couple of exhausting years. He had moved home, taking a new bunch of medications for severe bipolar disorder. It had been a good morning, but by noon something was wrong, and by the time he walked downstairs to go to bed, he was angry, and I was just too exhausted to follow and ... Read More about On Those Rumors: When You Talk About The Son Who Was Mine
How You Can Support Someone Grieving a Substance-Use Loss
I have experienced deep and painful grief from the death of many loved ones in my life. My husband died of a sudden heart attack in his sleep. My younger sister died of cancer. I lost both of my sons — my younger one to an accident, and my older one who died of a substance use disorder. My husband’s, younger son’s and sister’s deaths were considered socially acceptable to grieve. The loss I felt when I lost my older son to an overdose was painful in multiple ways, and different than any other ... Read More about How You Can Support Someone Grieving a Substance-Use Loss
Receiving ‘That Call’: When Your Worry Is Gone With The Highest Price
Not quite a year ago 'that call' came in. Our daughter was gone - more than 24 hours had transpired before her discovery. Her Uncle found her after learning she had failed to show for work two nights in a row and neither he nor her employer could reach her. They were concerned because this was entirely out of character for her. Her uncle had a pretty good idea, unfortunately, of what he would find when he got there. She had moved away, out of state, to start over again and to get away from the ... Read More about Receiving ‘That Call’: When Your Worry Is Gone With The Highest Price
The Grief Bargain
The castanet clank of fingernails drumming on a metal desk dropped out of the air between Beth and the demon for no apparent reason. There was no desk in the room, metal or otherwise. And as far as she could tell the demon was sitting on nothing more substantial than air. Even when her chest was so full of grief that drawing breath was a struggle, the air wasn’t solid enough to play like maracas. It seemed, that for demons at least, conviction was sufficient to rearrange reality. Enough for ... Read More about The Grief Bargain