Hope
Hope is not believing you can change things: hope is believing that what we do makes a difference. Vaclav Havel Such a subtle distinction. One is grounded in an external belief, and the other – grounded in belief, something deeply internal. I know there are people who read this who have been severely hurt, beaten, traumatized by addiction – more specifically by someone who is or has been active in addiction. It’s a desperately isolating experience, one that many people suffer alone, or largely in silence, as much like an iceberg, what can be outwardly seen is only the tip of it all. Addiction leaves scars. Deep scars. Not only on those who are in the ripple zone, but also for those who have been the center of it. I have been both. Substance use disorders manifest much like other chronic disorders. The manifestation is part genetics, part lifestyle, much of the insidiousness of it happening under the cloak of the un...