A New
Year, a New Hope
The year 2020 is over, and 2021 is officially here. A lot of attention was especially put on this particular New Year as 2020 brought challenges to the world that were largely unforeseen and that most folks were unprepared to take on, making it easy to understand why the general population was looking forward to flipping the calendar. Unfortunately, and expectedly, all the world’s problems did not magically disappear as the clock struck midnight on January 1st. We are still in the midst of a global pandemic, social unrest is still very much alive in a divided nation, and when it comes to addiction, I have little doubt that the problems of the world have taken their toll on our ongoing drug crisis that affects millions of addicts and their families every single day across the globe.
While a calendar change doesn’t provide magical cures to the horrors of 2020, it can represent a symbol of hope that the coming year will be one of healing and rebuilding, something that can ring true just as much with anyone struggling with addiction as it does for the rest of the population picking up the pieces from a devastating year. If there is one thing I have learned from the shutdowns and quarantines that have affected so many industries, it is that treatment centers are very much in the category of something that is essential and needed during a time such as the one we are living in.
While our center was steadfast in its approach to health protocols and ensuring the safest environment possible for people in need of help, the pandemic no doubt provided lots of challenges for people struggling to find treatment in their areas with the various travel restrictions and protocols in place that were continuing to evolve daily. While the pandemic is still very much wreaking havoc in our country and around the world, it is my hope that a better understanding of what we are dealing with and new ways to treat the virus will allow us to see more people getting the help that they need for themselves and their loved ones struggling with substance abuse.
There will be a lot of healing that will be needed after what we have collectively been through over the last year, from the pandemic to social injustice to a tense and divided election year, but I hope that addiction will also be at the forefront of areas that need our help and attention, something we have been failing as a society at successfully treating for much longer than 2020. The stigmas associated with addiction and those that are struggling coupled with the failing approaches to recovery that include substituting one drug for another and in turn one addiction for another have been seeing the addiction curve, another popular 2020 term due to the pandemic, headed in the wrong direction for decades.
All that said, the year 2020 will be remembered and singled out in the history books for all those things already mentioned. How will we remember 2021? When it comes to overcoming addiction, the adversity and failing that we suffered as addicts is what drives us to find a life free from drugs and alcohol, one in which we can succeed and prosper and find the peace that only one who has suffered from addiction can understand. Perhaps 2020 will be the year our society suffers from that adversity and those failings in a similar manner, one in which propels 2021 to be the starting point for our road to recovery in all aspects of what challenged us this past year, so we may begin to find a way to work together to help each other and build a better future.
If you or anyone you know is seeking help, please reach out.
