The Terrible Things We Do in Addiction

It’s no secret, addiction takes you to places you never thought you’d go. It’s quite common for people like us – recovering addicts – to look back at our time spent in active addiction and cringe at some a lot of the things we did. Take comfort in knowing that, not only is that something you have in common with plenty of others, but also that you are a different person now; the person you were always meant to be.

Here are the terrible things we do in addiction, things such as:

Forgetting where you parked your care and losing it…permanently

Crashing your car while driving drunk/high

Driving drunk/high

Driving drunk/high with your children (and other people’s children) in the care

Gun running                               

Getting an account on a sugar daddy website

Having sugar daddies…and telling your children about it

Pimping out women (and you’re a woman) it’s terrible in both scenarios

Pawning your most treasured possessions – and other people’s

Taking out a loan to buy drugs

Purposely writing bad checks to pay for drugs

Shoplifting then selling the merchandise to another store

Stealing your dad’s cop car and uniform to then rob people of their drugs

Leaving your 11 year old child – who flew alone to visit you – waiting at the airport because you’re too drunk to realize what day it is

Going to the ER with a fake story to get drugs

Selling your car for a handful of pills

Keeping your date waiting three hours while you go get high

Prostituting yourself

Stealing your dying grandmother’s medications

Replacing your 5 year old son’s quarters he was saving to buy himself a toy car with nickels and using the money to buy booze

Breaking your own foot/hand with a cinderblock in order to get drugs

Replacing mom’s painkillers with other medication that was potentially dangerous for her to take

Calling cops on your own mom when she withholds your medication

Ripping off other addicts that you know are dope sick to get high

Shooting up another person for the first time

Smuggling drugs

Dumping your friend in the cemetery who’s overdosing

The good news is this: you don’t have to live like that anymore. I know, I know, you probably hear that all the time but it’s true! What we do have to do, though, is forgive ourselves for the terrible things we do in our addiction because holding on to guilt and shame will sabotage your efforts to get and stay clean and sober. Remind yourself that you were suffering from a disease in its active state at that time and commit to being a better person from here on out.

If you are struggling with substance abuse or addiction, or you have a loved one who you suspect is struggling, there is help available. Call us toll-free 1-800-951-6135 to speak directly with an Addiction Specialist directly, day or night. We are available to answer your questions and help you out with resources. You are not alone.