Inspirational Quotes & Stories about Addiction


"I share this example simply to illustrate that little by little I kept experiencing more repercussions from my drinking problem. I knew that drinking and driving was not good for me, but I kept doing it. I knew that when I drank, I drank too much, but I kept doing it. I kept turning the volume higher and higher, until I had to listen. Life was kind and I was kind. I gave myself opportunities to learn my lesson the best way I knew how. As I was unwilling to learn this lesson, I gave myself more pronounced opportunities in order to finally learn what I was trying to teach myself. And just when my ears started to hurt enough, I decided to learn my lesson. All these opportunities were, in actuality, gifts to myself. Gifts of growth, the DWAI, the blackouts, the crash, the allergic reactions, all helped me learn my lesson. Most people would perceive the DWAI as bad luck, others would perceive the crash as an accident, but to me, all those situations were in the end, gifts I offered myself. The police officer was kind enough to give of his time to assist me in my growth, and I now smile every time I carefully and respectfully pass the tree outside the synagogue."

- James Blanchard Cisneros, You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey From Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy, p. 66

Read the section of the book that this inspirational quote comes from.

To illustrate the seriousness of drinking, we now know that Jellinek's disease (alcoholism) is responsible for:

• 50 percent of all auto fatalities

• 80 percent of all domestic violence/abuse

• 30 percent of all suicides

• 60 percent of all child abuse

• 65 percent of all drownings

It is estimated that when a woman contracts the disease, her husband leaves her in nine out of ten cases. When a man contracts it, his wife leaves in one out of ten cases. ⁴

- Kathleen W. Fitzgerald, Jellinek's Disease: The New Face of Alcoholism

Cited in You Have Chosen to Remember, p.66
Read the section of the book that this quote comes from.

The following is a personal story sent in by a person from Canada, who wishes to remain anonymous.
 

Hello,

There is so much I'd like to say, but the best place to start is by saying Thank You. I'd like to tell you a story that happened and tell you why I'm grateful, but I would also like to remain anonymous, if that's ok.

After quitting high school at 15, I spent 20 years in the working world, from being a soldier to eventually having my own technology firms, and then finally as an up-and-coming executive hopeful in the world's biggest technology studio. I didn't know then that so much of what I did was ruled by ego. I was good at everything I did in the workplace, but lousy at relationships; I didn't know that I had a deep pain that needed healing. Despite being a corporate star and loving the glory, I really loathed the work as I felt like I was missing the point of being alive. In 2006, I discovered that my relationship was based on deceit, and my partner encouraged me to use drugs; this was a pre-meditated plan that had been in the works for two years. I later found out that I was a target for a group of con artists headed by my ex, whose methods were to finish off their marks by getting them into narcotics, thereby isolating the mark from their friends, and also using the addiction as a way to eliminate the mark's credibility with police so that their accusers would only be seen as drug-crazed loonies. It all sounds pretty whack, even to write about it now - it was so far from what I thought was even remotely possible. Even more so was that in late 2006, all of this culminated in my being on the street as a homeless drug addict with a questionable state of mental health and countless attempts at suicide. It was a long way from the executive floor where I worked just four short months before. I was perhaps thirty minutes away from an intentional final overdose and driving a car into the ocean when my brother found me. He had flown across the country and had been walking the streets of the west coast city I lived in for a week looking for me.

I was very confused when I came home; due both to the detoxing, and to the pain and anger at my ex-girlfriend's actions to the abandonment of my friends in what was my greatest hour of need. At the time, I didn't see any of it for the gift that it was.

After I came home, an angel practitioner told me that all of these experiences were meant to bring me back from the west coast, and start a new career helping people by creating a new program for treating people with addictions. I didn't believe it; by this time, I'd also lost all faith that God existed. But she also told me that God and angels intervened directly to ensure that I didn't die, as I've got too important a mission here, and that it's time I was on the path to spiritual discovery. I only half believed that. The ego wanted to do things its way.

In the past year and half, I have experienced things I never knew were possible: joy, God, Well-Being...so much that I'm overwhelmed with the feeling of love from God and the universe. The road to here has been rocky, with periods of immense joy and other times of immense desperation and depression; those latter times are when I felt that I was being abandoned by God during my spiritual enlightenment. Periodically, over the same period since coming home, I lost faith in people and shut myself away from the world. It was during one of these times that a friend pointed me to your site, and to your book.

I'm 36 now, living with my Mom and studying psychology at university, while figuring out that God has perfect timing for what he wants me to do. I wanted to say thank you because you sent me your book and I couldn't afford to buy it. When it arrived, I realized what it means to walk one's talk, and you helped to restore my faith in humanity. For that I will be eternally grateful. One day I hope to repay your kindness in a way that spreads love and light.

I can't entirely say why I went through the experiences I did, but I do know now that I set up all of these lessons as a learning experience at some level that I am not fully aware of. There is so much to learn!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Anonymous

Canada
 

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Footnotes / Acknowledgments

Every effort has been made to provide accurate source attribution. Should any attribution be found to be incorrect, the author welcomes written documentation supporting correction for subsequent printings. For material not in the public domain, selection was made according to generally accepted fair-use standards and practices.

4. Kathleen W. Fitzgerald, Jellinek's Disease: The New Face of Alcoholism, Copyright June 2003, (Wales Tale Press).   >> back to quote
 

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View larger images of front & back cover 
of the inspiring spiritual / self help book You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.