Learning the Hard Way

I want to tell you a little about what I went through. Growing up my parents divorced and it created a pattern for me throughout my life because it confused me. I started coping with chaotic situations by running away and only focusing on myself, which made me selfish. Later in life, this led to drug use and being arrested because I had no coping skills, so every time something went wrong for me, I became selfish and ran away and numbed my pain with drugs.

It led me to nothing good. A lot of this stemmed from hanging around the wrong group of people who were involved in crime and getting loaded. I am now focused on becoming better at seeing what I do to cause situations to become chaotic, so I can handle them before my environment becomes chaotic. This is from hanging around the correct group of people who are responsible, honest, hardworking, and contributing members of society. This helps me because it keeps me out of harm’s way.

The moral of this is drug addiction can happen to anyone and nothing about it is fun. I ended up in pain and misery and in jail with a disappointed family. If I could give any advice, I would say if you are facing addiction, do not be afraid to reach out and let go of that life. It led me to shame and pain.

Now I can walk free without chains weighing me down or pressure crashing into my chest.

— J.P., Naconon Student