“My problem wasn’t alcohol’, he said, “Alcohol was the solution to my problems.”
About a year ago, I found myself divorced. Something I never imagined I’d be. Drinking was something I’d never done and other than a little peer pressure as a teen, hadn’t really ever entertained doing. But with my divorce, came a tremendous amount of hurt. Hurt I wanted to escape. So much so I remember standing in front of the cooler at CVS one night thinking, “If I could just stop thinking for a little while, I’ll be good.” Truth was, I wouldn’t as I’d need another drink the next night and the next night. I’d only been creating a host of other problems for myself. Ultimately, more grief.
Perhaps your grief began in childhood? The loss of a pet or the divorce of your parents? Maybe it’s been later in life . . . you lost a job? Or your health declined? Whether you’ve been through one devastating loss or have had a lifetime of heartache, unresolved emotional pain limits the quality of your life and your capacity for happiness and can lead to choices compounding this.
Some of us escape our losses without turning to substance abuse while there are others who do not. Either way, we need “recovery”. More often than not, our hurts tend to turn us inward and as a result, drugs and alcohol become the solution. Had I chosen to drink that night following my divorce, that “solution” may have resulted in more grief. Not only for myself but for many others.
So, what do we do when we find ourselves standing in the middle of loss having never turned to drugs and alcohol or perhaps, standing in rehab because we have? What do we do when life doesn’t turn out the way we hoped it would whether it’s a result of our own choices or those of someone else?
We all simply do what we think is best at the time. For some of us, that “best” is drugs and alcohol and sadly, these tools don’t lead us down the road to getting complete with all of the things we wish we could have said or done in regard to the relationship/event that broke our heart. Afterall, grief isn’t the result of a broken brain. It’s the result of a broken heart.
“Anbesol” is a great tool for providing instant but temporary relief from tooth pain, right? But does it provide us with a solution for permanent relief? More times than not, permanent relief involves addressing the “root” of the problem.
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