The 4th of July will be celebrated this week, and I can’t help but reflect on the gift of independence our Country received almost 250 years ago, the celebration of Freedom. Imagine living in a country where we are told what we can and cannot do; we are free on any given day to decide what to do, where to go, what to say, and who to spend our time with. It is truly glorious!
I do, however, know how it feels to be imprisoned by a brain hijacked by a tyrant of the worst kind, addiction.
I have lost my freedom of self to the nagging, obsessive, fixated demon that takes over your brain when you are addicted to a substance. Your thoughts are not free, they are captured and you can think of nothing else but satisfying that constant itch, quieting the noise that is forever screeching in your head, every thoughts revolves around “More…More…More…how do I get more?”.
You find yourself missing work, family time, friends, because your time is spent doctor shopping, or driving hours to fill a counterfeit prescription at a pharmacy where you hope the pharmacist doesn’t recognize you.
The worst is when you are with your small child, looking at him, his sweet voice is talking, but you are not hearing; he is physically next to you but you are not there; your mind, or better yet your attention, can’t be in 2 places at once and the louder voice is the voice plotting your next illegal act to get more pills….the pills that fool you into thinking you are able to be present with that same child.
Substance abuse takes so much from us. We are no longer free to do and say all the things that our Country fought so hard for, THAT freedom now belongs to the devil in our head. And in the end, it ultimately robs our physical freedom too. We either go to jail, rehab or die.
There is a way out, however, a way to live the most liberating, joyous and free life you could ever imagine; that way out is Recovery. It’s free to obtain and will slash the binding chains of addiction right from you.
So, as we celebrate the freedom of our country this week, I ask you to say a prayer for those who are imprisoned by their addiction. Help them to declare independence from the chains that hold them prisoner. And if that person is you, I pray you find your way into a life of recovery. You deserve to live life freely, we all do.