Overheard in Recovery: Stunted Growth
The other week I heard someone describe the years of their active using as being:
Addiction does stunt your growth. Addiction gets in the way of coping with emotions and problems and stress. Have a cigarette. Snort some coke. Down a couple beers and relax. We lose the ability to even learn how to get better at coping. It is so much easier to take some substance. We feel better. We decide that the answer lies in what we use- not who we are or what we are able to learn how to do.
Our growth is stunted. Emotionally. Psychologically. Socially. Spiritually. I may not have stunted my physical growth by smoking or drinking. But I was slowed down in a lot of other ways. Fortunately, unlike any physical stunting, you can start growing again. It takes work, sure, but it is not impossible.
Growing again is such a joy. What a gift to be grateful for.
curled up in a fetal position in the middle of an onion with layers of stuff stunting my growth.For some reason the first thing that came to mind was the line I remember my parents and others saying about smoking cigarettes:
It will stunt your growth.Well, I am not sure that this was physically true, but little did they know the deeper psychological truth of that statement.
Addiction does stunt your growth. Addiction gets in the way of coping with emotions and problems and stress. Have a cigarette. Snort some coke. Down a couple beers and relax. We lose the ability to even learn how to get better at coping. It is so much easier to take some substance. We feel better. We decide that the answer lies in what we use- not who we are or what we are able to learn how to do.
Our growth is stunted. Emotionally. Psychologically. Socially. Spiritually. I may not have stunted my physical growth by smoking or drinking. But I was slowed down in a lot of other ways. Fortunately, unlike any physical stunting, you can start growing again. It takes work, sure, but it is not impossible.
Growing again is such a joy. What a gift to be grateful for.
1 comment:
Wow, that's great! I really like this post.
I agree that people of this world seem to just ignore issues. Whether they be other people's issues, the world's issues, or worst of all their own issues. I know that I do that a lot. I bury my problems and things that I don't want to face with things like video games when what I should be doing is going to God and seeing what it is He wants me to learn from them, how He wants me to deal with them, and as you stated how He wants to use them to make me grow in Him.
Post a Comment