“When you can stop you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t…” ― Luke Davies, Candy

Addiction IS a disease. You can see someone everyday and not realise they have an addiction. They may show signs once in a while, but rarely do you see the whole picture until shit hits the fan.

I’ve known people throughout my life who have suffered from one form of addiction to another. Some you would NEVER know, others were painfully obvious.

The one thing all have in common are the questions – why are they doing it? Aren’t they afraid of losing everything? Can’t they control it? What is WRONG with them? The flip side to those are of course related to the ones who care for them and usually people accusing them of enabling the addiction.

Addicts don’t want to be addicts. They have an impulse so strong to attain that which they are addicted to that nothing matters. Consequences are not part of the equation, until the shit hits the fan. They would rather beg forgiveness and let go in the moment. Until everyone has left them to their own devices, the addict will always feel that things will be OK (not necessarily in the OK way non-addicts would see life).

Just remember to be kind. No matter what happens. Be kind to the homeless addict, your kindness may be the only one they get. Be kind to the loved one struggling with what to do, yours may be the only kindness that helps. Be kind to the people who work with addicts, they deal with a huge burden of care most of us could not even imagine.

Remember to act with kindness and love, you never know the path that lead someone to where they are. Remember that that person is somebody’s someone and that somebody loves them.

Daphne Willis – Somebody’s Someone