The Devil Named Addiction

     Ferociously eating away at our self-esteem, while filling us with false satiety and satisfaction. This devil knows no boundaries and carries a bottomless appetite. It pounces upon us relentlessly day in…day out. Sometimes our resolve is torn and trampled and we wave the white flag in surrender. Thinking we are a failure…weak and undeserving. But we should know there is always hope. We may not be able to slay the dragon, but we can learn to master it. While this adversary can rob us of our health both physical and emotional…never ever can it consume our soul.

     Whether your difficult battle is with food, money, television, video games, sex, hoarding, alcohol or drugs….in reality the list is endless. You must know you are not alone – a secret that is hidden like a guarded treasure in the lyre of the beast. It wants you to anguish and feel outcast, defeated and worthless. This savage so desires us to think we are insufficient so it can seep into our spirit and numb us from the beauty of life.

     We all find life difficult at times and have had to struggle physically and emotionally to meet the day. We all have fought the fight sometime in our life. We all have stumbled in the past and may again in the future. But some of us have a bigger, stronger demon to combat.

     Oh life is hard, harder so for some…I don’t know why this devil feasts upon some with such aggression. My fight is meager and I still have defeats and exhaustion at time. I can only imagine what some must go through when the struggle is literally life and death. I so wish we could slay this predator and it would exist no more. Watching the pain and exhaustion of others as they fight so hard, losing their hope and self-esteem. Feeling alone, out of control and not worthy of the battle. But they are worthy…and instead of shaking our heads and turning our backs- sending them the message that we too give up on them… we must let them know that we will help light the way.

     Addiction is the devil that plunder our hopes and roars to us that we are no longer in control. I have seen a bit of what this can do to lives of others…I have come to detest addiction in all of its forms. I know that I have my benign battles with the beast. But mine have not been the painful fight of severe addiction…that which many of us do not understand therefore carry no patience for the addicted and no comprehension of the strength of the demon. Those who live fighting this battle…I think of them often. I hope they know that they have the right to a better life. They have a right to chain the dragon and they can. Do not give up hope- everyday is a new one bringing the prospect of change. I stand by them in acknowledgment of the struggle, their pain and adversity. I truly wish for their success and better tomorrows. May they find hope and gain control- a victory in the war with the devil named addiction.