The Addict is the Last One to Know

1. “What are you talking about?  I’m not an addict!”
2. “So, I party a little, everybody does.”
3. “I just want to have some fun.  It’s not like I use every day!”
4. “I can quit any time I want to.”
5. “I work every day – an addict can’t do that!”

Why is it that people suffering from addiction are sometimes the last to know they are addicted?

There is a lot of wisdom in the old saying, “Addiction is the disease that tells you that you don’t have it.”

Addiction is sneaky.  It begins as a way to feel better, relax or to party a little with friends.  As time passes, it begins to take a little more to feel the same way a little used to make you feel.

A glass or two of wine with dinner progresses to a few drinks before dinner, a bottle of wine with dinner, and a nightcap or two at the end of the day.  Smoking a joint to relax can progress to doing a line of coke, to adding some pills as a kicker. And on and on it goes.  The substances vary greatly from person to person, but the addiction is the same.  So is the denial –

“I’m not an addict!”

No one starts with a plan to become addicted, but it happens, and then things in life start to go downhill such as too much money is spent on substances, another DUI arrest, performance at work goes down (but the person with the addiction thinks they are performing just fine, and they believe no one notices.), relationships begin to get complicated or end, withdrawal symptoms require the substance to avoid the discomfort, etc.  A person might have a thought creep in that he or she really needs to cut down on using.  They promise themselves that they will…tomorrow.  But then something makes tomorrow too difficult to get through without the substance, so they will cut back the next day, which never happens.

“That’s Why I’m Here” is an old Kenny Chesney song with lyrics that describe it well,