Awaken

Two things happened this week that devastated me:

One is an all too familiar story for a family that I do not even know. It is the story of a young man who was working at getting free from addiction and being effective at it. When his dad came home from work last Wednesday night he went to greet his son in his room, I suppose as he often did, he found his son dead, very likely from an overdose. As soon as I heard that I froze, honestly, because I am just sick and tired of hearing about it.

The second was just shy of a week later. I kept seeing posts on my FaceBook page that were confusing about two women I went to high school with. One, I knew but not well. The other I had met when we were in 10^th Grade English. Not long after I met her I happened to be with her husband the day they met. I remember the conversation after they met and I felt she had really made an impression on him. I guess so because she married him and they raised a wonderful family. As I kept seeing these comments about her and the other women I learned that there was a terrible accident, and the woman and the girl from 10^th grade English were struck by a car going the wrong way on I91 in Massachusetts. The article did not say much except that the two women were pronounced DOA and an investigation was ensuing.

My heart sank as I mumbled: Whaaaaat, how does this happen? It happens because life is very fragile and very unforgiving, but we do not have to be!

So what’s the point? Why does this matter to addiction, why does it even matter to me?

It matters because LIFE matters, not merely to avoid death but to experience life. I have done a lot of funerals. When there if you look long enough you will see it on the faces of the people that really matter there, the people that were the closest to the person, the people who are thinking “I wished I had . . .”. They are always there, and they are the ones that care.

There was one more thing that happened this week. I got a call from a family who are trying to help someone they care deeply about. This person keeps cycling further and further down into addiction. As I spoke with those who loved them, I could not help but wonder how many chances to connect have gotten lost amidst the melee addiction causes in lives, families, and friends. Those moments can be reclaimed but only if we choose to maximize life. Don’t let them fade away. Do your best to seize those moments now. Truthfully all that really is lasting in life is our relationships

If you are struggling to overcome addiction or helping someone that is, a good question to ask yourself is: “On a scale of 1 (one being no desire) to 10 (ten being lots of desire) how ready are you to change? If you answer anything above 1 then ask yourself “Why you didn’t you pick a lower number?” Think hard about the answer. In that answer, you will find the element that will begin to ignite in you the reasons/motivations of why YOU want to get better, not someone else. If your answer was 1 then ask yourself: “What would be a very step that could turn that 1 into a 2?”

The above questions are from the book “Instant Influence” by Michael Pantelon

Another excellent read about the importance of relationships in life is “Lost Connections” by Johann Hari

This weeks featured image if by Brooke Shaden. I do not know the title but know it was taken In an icy pond in Iceland