Discouraging Questions

[Shumba]

Hi Fam, what is the most discouraging or weird question you have ever been asked on addiction?

I must confess that I am always judged about my addiction. The issue has been a nuisance and at some point I was even depressed as it is not anyone fault to be an addict. Everyone has their own side of the story on how they ended up being addicts. It is thus unfair for anyone to judge you before hearing your side of the story and what you are doing about it. The only place I find consolation is my family who have always stand by me throughout. I am now 1month sober and thanks to them I feel loved, appreciated and encouraged to continue.I am sure some of us have also undergone the same. 

[Mommamich]

My only addiction has been smoking so as to other addictions I have no experience. I can say that I never considered tobacco an addiction but always wondered why people drank or did drugs. How hypocritical of me. Of course my husband nor my children smoke so they always looked at me with disgust as to my stupid choices. I guess we all judge what we don't understand.

[Shumba]

I like your thought. People are prone to pass judgement but they don't know what a person is going through

[elvan]

Congratulations on your month of freedom, I would have to say that the most discouraging thing ever said to me was said over and over again..."oh, you'll smoke again"..."how many times have you quit so far?"  To be fair, I quit so many times that I lost track myself.

No one wants to be an addict...ever ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up and have them answer..."I want to be a junkie."  NOPE

Ellen

[Shumba]

Thanks Elvan

[Barb102]

Oh wow Ellen I’ve heard those things too. They made me want to prove them wrong. So I did. It doesn’t matter how many times you try to quit.all that matters is that you do for your sake and your loved ones

[Chuck-2-20-2011]

The silliest question I'd ever been asked while quitting was from a co-worker who said, "I'm going out for a cigarette. Want one?" 

I simply laughed at him and continued working, my point being that when we're in the middle of a quit, it completely consumes our minds. The entire world seems different to us. Unfortunately, no one around us really understands what's going on on the inside of us.

 As such we tend to run into two things. The first being that nothing is different to those around us, so they say dumb things to us, usually before they even realized that they did.

 The other thing that happens is that those who are still comfortable with their addictions or rather the fact that they don't intend to quit seem to be just a little jealous of the fact that we're working to improve our lives, and so they say stupid things to us. I Think when it comes to addicts, they're actively doing what we always did before we quit. They're protecting the addiction and concealing it from themselves and their internal realty in order to keep the shroud of addiction firmly in place. In order to reinforce what they are doing as they continue to smoke.

 That's my take on it at least .Congratulations on a month!!

ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!

Chuck

[Shumba]

Thanks Chuck

[virgomama]

I haven't really been asked any questions, but I am surprised at how unaware people are of what you are going through when quitting an addiction.  I only have experience with smoking, but I suspect that addiction to any substance has at least some similar qualities.  I'm only 12 days into my quit,  so every thought and action still circulates around my ex smoking.  I feel raw about it and others in my world don't seem to notice.  It's a strange experience I'm not quite sure how to explain.

[crazymama_Lori]

I've been addicted to nicotine for years.  I've lived with heroin, meth, oxycodone addicts.  I've also lived with alcoholics.  We all have a story to tell.  I received most of my insight from reading blogs from former and current alcoholics and drug dependent people.  We all use for different reasons, covering the pain from sexual and physical abuse, poor self image, undiagnosed depression or other mental disorders or simply the main reason, it felt good, we kept doing it, now we don't know how to stop.  In my case, I used smoking to be "cool" in adolescence, saw it only as a habit to break in my 20's and finally saw it as an addiction in my 30's.  I always use the term dependence.  But it became easier once I learned that I'm not that person that can only have it, do it, smoke it once every once in a while.  I'm a person that once I do, I'm off and running with it.  Addiction/dependence is not curable; it's manageable.  See those questions as a teaching tool because maybe some day you may be saving another person's life by sharing your life story