The Development of An Addiction
Sooner or later, everyone who is struggling with addiction will get to the point where it is no longer fun and it begins to cause more problems than it is worth. For many people who are just starting out, they do it because it seems fun, then it turns into a way to “deal with life” without actually dealing with life and eventually it becomes a habit that is so hard to quit that life can seem impossible to face without it.
When left untreated, addiction has the ability to destroy every aspect of a person’s life, on a physical, emotional, spiritual and mental level; in many cases, it has often resulted in death. Repairing the damage done from addiction is not easy, and it takes time, but it can be done. In order to truly heal, it is important to get out of the “quick-fix mindset” because quick fixes never result in lasting change. The goal of Narconon is simply to help those suffering from the cycle of addiction so that they may break free from it in order to begin a healthier path in life.
“I realized that I had been doing drugs and drinking alcohol for over 45 years of my life. Since I first started drinking at the age of 12 and smoked my first joint at the age of 13, I have only had a year of sobriety in the year of 2012 and close to a three-year period from 2012-2015.
“In the earlier years, drugs did not seem to be such a problem as much as they were fun. I was experimenting with different drugs to expand my normal consciousness and see what other areas of reality I could explore.
”Then as I grew older, alcohol abuse started to ruin my life. It just wasn’t fun anymore as I would drink to excess, have mean hangovers, and have the health of my body diminish, have a sluggish mind and diminish any hopes of maintaining some sort of natural spiritualism.
”Although I did not drink every day, I did become a binge drinker where I would drink for 3-6 days straight and get terribly sick. Sometimes when I was trying to quit I would have to seek medical attention.
“I was destroying my life. This was no way to live. Not only was I hurting myself, I was hurting my family and those around me. I was trying to hide my sickness and withhold the fact that I had a serious problem.
”I am going to live a good life with a good positive attitude and have good honest values and remain sober without alcohol or drugs in my life.”
—Dave R.
