Hi, I am in a recovery group. As part of the group we are writing letters to the addict. In it we have to write things the addict helped us/taught us and then the things the addict did to destroy our lives. The destroy part is pretty easy, but I could use a little help getting ideas flowing on the "how it's helped" portion. Here is what I have so far: Friend when lonely Loyal Never Judges Saves me from pain, stress, and hard times Taught me about sex (mostly incorrectly, but some truth) Taught me to keep secrets and put on a good face (I handle sensitive information at work, so this is actually helpful) Got me through the death of my sister Helped me survive being bullied in middle school Provided excitement and adventure Always accepted me Taught me a lot about computers I realize a lot of these are smoke and mirrors which examined closely are false. Thanks, JED34
I think you should look more at the core advantages that come from the negativity of it rather than advantages of numbing you up or peripheral skills it taught you to pick up... ...like your weakness and failures are the things that give you the desire to be strong, we are often most wounded where our greatest strengths and source for joy lie... in this sense addictions are blessings... as long as we accept the challenge they will make us stronger and better ppl than if we never fell into them ...so perhaps things like: brought me to (emotional) rock bottom which finally caused me to get my act together... ...is my ultimate internal bad ass trainer teaching me how to take better care of myself (ok by negative example but so what? [you flip ever nudge it gives you in a bad direction and redirect it into a good direction]) etc.
