Liberation from Addiction—How to Free Yourself Once and for All

Liberating one’s self from drug-addiction, truly breaking free of the chains that enslave addicts to a life they never envisioned, can feel like a hopeless proposition to addicts and their loved ones alike. I understand why, too. The grip of addiction is often very tight, doing everything it can to squeeze every drop of hope out of everyone involved. There are those, such as me once upon a time, who will often put together small bursts of clean time, only to feel like they are running from a magnet continuously strengthening its pullback towards drug abuse. It doesn’t feel liberating. More like an hour recess in the yard before going back to the cage.

There is an ominous and depressing feeling of inevitability present when an addict quits using but does nothing to handle the addiction itself. It’s a white-knuckle affair, and probably the furthest feeling away from that of freedom. I used to believe that all I needed to do to turn my life around was simply quit using drugs like I could think and speak that into existence. I continued to fail with this mindset, and with each fall the climb to redemption and freedom appeared higher and higher, feeling more and more like a distant dream than an attainable goal.

The truth is that overcoming years of prolonged drug abuse involves so much more than a mindset to quit using.

“There is an ominous and depressing feeling of inevitability present when an addict quits using but does nothing to handle the addiction itself. It’s a white-knuckle affair, and probably the furthest feeling away from that of freedom.”

Addiction has a way of making a person feel utterly defeated in the world. Bad habits are formed. Deplorable behaviors result. Relationships are damaged. Social skills take on a life of their own driven by drug impairment. None of these disappear overnight with the absence of drugs, and they are what create the magnet and pull back to addiction when they haven’t been properly handled. These are the things that make relapse a high probability instead of an unlikely possibility for so many people attempting to turn their lives around but instead find themselves failing. It’s not difficult to see why people find addiction so hard to overcome.

So how is it done? How is it possible to find that liberation with so many obstacles seemingly in the way?

It’s not as difficult as we like to make it, but it does take the proper time, care, and attention to detail to get it right and avoid the revolving door that continues to go in and out of addiction. It takes slowing down long enough to handle the problem, leaving no stone unturned.

I went to a long-term treatment facility where I was able to handle the physical side of addiction and have enough time to then heal as a person. That’s what I needed, what was necessary. Once healed, I was able to make and incorporate changes that provided me a structured environment early on where I was able to make a full lifestyle change.

With this, I was able to gain my self-confidence back and my ability to make good decisions for myself and learn how to be a responsible adult.

I made sacrifices, I made changes, and I made a commitment to doing everything in my power to not just quit using drugs but also become a better person, the person that was always inside of me but had been buried underneath the multi-layers created by addiction and drug abuse. It wasn’t always easy, I had to work on doing what I needed to do rather than what I wanted to do at the beginning. My liberation from addiction finally came when my wants and needs eventually lined up, and the urge to self-sabotage my life with impulsive and destructive behaviors ceased to exist. I know that if this is possible for me if a near twenty-year addict can find his freedom from drug addiction, anyone can. If you or anyone you know is seeking help, please reach out.