Author: The Fix

"Dilbert" Creator Addresses Son’s Apparent Fentanyl Overdose

“If you don’t have any personal experience with opioid addiction, it doesn’t look like anything else you’ve ever seen,” Adams said.

Cartoonist Scott Adams is grieving the loss of his stepson, who died of an apparent fentanyl overdose last weekend. On a live video stream Monday, Adams described the moment he found out about 18-year-old Justin’s death and the path that led his son to his demise.

“Yesterday I got a call… from my ex-wife who told me that my stepson, the little boy that I raised from the age of two, was dead,” said Adams, better known as the creator of the Dilbert comic strip.

“He died last night… in his bed from what appears to be a fentanyl overdose. I got to watch my dead, blue, bloated son taken out on a stretcher in front of his mother and biological father.”

Justin had a fentanyl patch on his arm, Adams said. “Fentanyl probably killed my son yesterday.”

Justin had struggled with his drug use for years. “We weren’t surprised, because he’d had a long battle with addiction since he was 14,” said Adams.

A traumatic injury as a young man had changed him completely. “He had a very bad head injury when he was 14 from a bicycle accident. His behavior changed after the accident,” said Adams. “He sort of lost his ability to make good decisions… He lost his impulse control, he lost his fear.”

His family couldn’t help him, Adams said, especially because was never ready to seek help. “He never wanted to get better. From the time he started doing drugs, he wanted to do more drugs and that’s all he wanted.”

Adams described what it’s like to see a loved one lost in addiction. “If you don’t have any personal experience with opioid addiction, it doesn’t look like anything else you’ve ever seen,” he said in the emotional live stream. “It turns people into walking zombies who quite clearly are not in their own mind and are not in control of their actions.”

Fentanyl is a pharmaceutical painkiller said to be 50-100 times stronger than morphine. Because of its high potency and the growing demand for opioids, an illicit market for fentanyl has emerged. It is said to have fueled the rise in opioid-related deaths over the years.

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded 63,632 drug overdose deaths in the U.S.—42,249 of them involved prescription and illicit opioids, including fentanyl.

Adams, who’s made a name for himself as a conservative pundit of some sort, goes on to “call for [the] execution” of the people who according to the U.S. government are to blame for the fentanyl crisis—Chinese suppliers.

Adams stoically explains that executing “Chinese executives” of companies who produce and distribute illicit fentanyl “would be a great step.”

View the original article at thefix.com

8 October 2018
Intoxicated Birds Cause Trouble In Minnesota

Bird experts blame seasonal migration for the abnormal behavior while others believe fermented fruit is the culprit.

Are they two wings to the air or three sheets to the wind?

A northern Minnesota town has been plagued by drunk and disorderly birds wreaking havoc on the friendly skies over Gilbert.

But—believe it or not—it was the town’s police department that flagged locals to stop calling in about the two-winged town drunks.

“The Gilbert Police Department has received several reports of birds that appear to be ‘under the influence’ flying into windows, cars and acting confused,” officers wrote on Facebook. “The reason behind this occurrence is certain berries we have in our area have fermented earlier than usual due to an early frost, which in turn has expedited the fermenting process.”

Typically, the birds would have already migrated away by the time the berries are at their most boisterous-making. But even if there appears to be some potential Flying While Intoxicated violations underway, police asked citizens not to call for help—unless they see “Big Bird operating a motor vehicle in an unsafe manner” or “other birds after midnight with Taco Bell items.”

Short of that, the best approach is to wait patiently for the booze to wear off, police said, as birds tend to sober up quickly.

Despite the well-received note, some experts had their doubts, telling the New York Times that the berries may not really be to blame for the birds’ boozy behavior.

Instead, they credited any avian-versus-window wrecks to big seasonal migrations passing through the town and said it would simply be too early in the season for fermenting fruit to be the culprit.

“I think this week everybody is yearning for something that we can all laugh at together,” Duluth-based bird expert Laura Erickson told the Times. “Drunken birds sound funny, and they are funny.”

Even if these particular birds aren’t drunk, there’s some evidence they can turn a little tipsy from fermented fruit, according to the Washington Post.

“They just get sloppy and clumsy,” long-time birder Matthew Dodder told the paper. “They have actually fallen out of trees on occasion.”

Some species—like robins and thrushes—are more apt to engage in drunken debauchery than others. But, as yet, there’ve been no reports of birdies in barroom brawls.

View the original article at thefix.com

8 October 2018
Are $1 Test Strips The Key To Curbing Fentanyl Deaths?

Harm reduction advocates are applauding a new study that examines whether the test strips proved beneficial to injection drug users.

Fentanyl, the powerful opioid said to be responsible for exacerbating the opioid crisis, could be meeting its match: a $1 test strip that indicates the presence of fentanyl in street drugs.

A group of researchers wondered, if drug users had free access to these test strips, would they adjust their drug use to avoid dying from fentanyl?

They put together a research study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, that distributed test strips to 125 heroin users at a needle exchange program in Greensboro, North Carolina. They then distributed an online survey that revealed 81% of the heroin users had used the strips, with 63% reporting that their drugs tested positive.

Those who saw that their drugs contained fentanyl were five times more likely to adjust the way they used the drug so they would not overdose.

For example, they may have opted to snort it instead of injecting it, slowing down the rate at which it enters the bloodstream. Others opted to simply use a smaller dose.

The results are in line with a study by Johns Hopkins University researchers that found that users who preferred to inject their drugs did want to know if fentanyl was present, and would take its presence into account when using.

Proponents of harm reduction see the study as a positive step forward.

“Harm reduction at its core is a scrappy self-made movement,” said Daniel Ciccarone, a UCSF professor and study co-author. “Syringe exchange and naloxone peer distribution came out of this movement and have gone mainstream. But the [test strips] need an evidence base in order to become the next intervention in this legacy.”

Slowly but surely, test strips are making their way to being distributed alongside clean needles at needle exchanges. However, unlike clean needles, test strips are still considered paraphernalia and thus face some legal restrictions in their distribution.

The District of Columbia and Maryland have already adjusted their laws to allow the distribution of test strips, and advocates are confident other cities will soon follow.

But even if the legal jam were to be overcome, there’s another problem. That $1 price tag on each strip adds up. Critics say it’s more cost-efficient for users to simply act like all their drugs contain fentanyl instead of testing each and every dose, but that’s not good enough, said Jon Zibbell, RTI International public health analyst and study author.

“That’s like saying, ‘Assume everyone you have sex with has chlamydia,’” Zibbell said, suggesting that most people don’t act on a risk unless they have concrete evidence it’s real.

He hopes that the strips will lead to more cost-effective bulk testing methods, such as spectrometers that scan for fentanyl at every needle exchange site.

View the original article at thefix.com

8 October 2018
Ben Affleck Speaks Out After Completing Rehab Program

The Justice League star told fans on social media he just finished a 40-day rehab stint.

Actor Ben Affleck took to Instagram on Thursday to tell fans that he’s just finished a 40-day stay in rehab for alcohol addiction treatment.

“This week I completed a forty day stay at a treatment center for alcohol addiction and remain in outpatient care,” he wrote on Instagram.

He credited family, friends and fans for providing the support he needed to complete his treatment program and being able to speak about it publicly.

“The support I have received from my family, colleagues and fans means more to me than I can say,” he admitted in his post. “It’s given me the strength and support to speak about my illness with others.”

Affleck said that while his family is a major source of strength for his ongoing recovery, fan support also helps to push him through.

“So many people have reached out on social media and spoken about their own journeys with addiction. To those people, I want to say thank you,” he posted. “Your strength is inspiring and is supporting me in ways I didn’t think was possible. It helps to know I am not alone.”

He hopes that his being open about recovery as a high-profile celebrity can help others find the courage to seek help.

“As I’ve had to remind myself, if you have a problem, getting help is a sign of courage, not weakness or failure,” he wrote. “I continue to avail myself with the help of so many people and I am grateful to all those who are there for me. I hope down the road I can offer an example to others who are struggling.”

Affleck sought help with the support of his estranged wife, actress Jennifer Garner. The two have three children that they are committed to co-parenting despite the soon-to-be-official divorce. She’s been pushing him to get help since last year, and continues to help him today. In fact, Garner was the one who drove him to rehab for this most recent stint, according to People.

“I want to live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be,” Affleck wrote in a March 2017 Facebook post. “I’m lucky to have the love of my family and friends, including my co-parent, Jen, who has supported me and cared for our kids as I’ve done the work I set out to do. This was the first of many steps being taken towards a positive recovery.”

View the original article at thefix.com

8 October 2018
The Most Important Person in the Room

There’s no need to worry about my career, or lack of intimate relationships, or future, or even quitting nicotine. I’m taking it easy, I’m in my first year of sobriety.

Every time I relapse I forget I am not God.

I am no longer able to allow the darkness to bloom into the grand external circumstances I once did; when it does, while the bigger picture slowly darkens, there’s a life constantly poised to begin.

I think that continuous sobriety is boring; I must, based on the evidence of my own life, of my own lies.

Imagine this: You are playing soccer. You’re on defense, almost as far away from the goal as you can get but you take the ball from the other team, all the way through their offensive and then defensive line with intense speed. You’re in front of the goal now, with a wide open shot. You flub the kick. The ball rolls just a foot. The goalie grabs it. It was all for nothing. This is how I played soccer.

Imagine the beginning of the semester: You love beginnings and showing what you are capable of, so you get A’s and read everything for the first month or two. Then you lose interest, get bored maybe, stop paying attention. You let your grades dip until it gets scary, until a note gets sent home. And then you have to work your ass off to get back to maybe a B+ final grade. If you really pull it off you might get an A-. That is what kind of student I was.

It seems like I need others and myself to know that I am capable, but also that I can’t be counted on. I want you to know that I can win, but I won’t. I don’t want to be expected to. It’s been almost ten years since my first attempt at recovery. I’ve never been sober long enough to date, to move, to make any major life changes within the constraints of the program’s suggestions.

I’m addicted to each part of the cycle – the descent into not giving a fuck, the bloody climb from the pyre of my own making. As I get too close or move too fast towards what I want, the part of me that knows I am not worthy of it, the part that’s sure I don’t want the responsibility of a better life screws me. There’s a lot of fragmentation.

When we—and by “we” I mean my perception of you and the culture-at-large—when we look at a chronic relapser, our tendency is to look at the drug as the thing they can’t let go of – and it is, mostly. For those of us who know what the other side can hold and yet continue to throw the ships of ourselves against the rocks, chasing siren songs, the guilt and shame only add fuel to the orgiastic pull of destruction.

Shame is our primary emotion and perhaps our greatest addiction.

I recall every slide toward rock bottom I created, every flail out, the night spent hurling my body into the door of the drunk tank with piss-soaked pants, finally settling down to bite off each fingernail and howl. And I remember what comes after; being so broken I would allow help, would allow others to love me; how my father would prove he cared by letting me use a lawyer from his firm for my DUI case, how a nice lady from a meeting paid my October rent, how friends brought me to look for a job.

I get a new boyfriend, a new job, everything working out until I find myself moving down the mountain too fast, and, turning the tips of my skis inward to slow down, I fall.

And when I come back to recovery, it’s the same. Just a few people to believe that this time’s different. The climb feels like springtime, that’s why I make sure to do one at least every spring. In fact, looking back over the data, a bottom out in winter followed by a good 4-6 month sober stretch is my usual.

I won’t take AA seriously until I have nothing else left and nobody left to talk to. Or at least, that’s how it used to be. Now it’s more of an internal emptiness, as the fear mounts that I may not get another shot to take the ball all the way up the field. Until I start to feel better, until my life starts to get bigger, until I’m in front of the goal again. I choke, over and over and over, and I climb back out, over and over and over. I raise my hand: “I have two days back,” and I get the applause, again and again. I’m the most important person in the room.

There’s a sense that I will always be on the verge, never quite crossing the line into success. I want more, or do I? The cycle is a familiar distraction.

There’s no need to worry about my career, or lack of intimate relationships, or future, or even quitting nicotine. I’m taking it easy, I’m in my first year of sobriety. And there’s always new people.

I almost believe it.

This is the place where I used to blame my abusive mother, and believe me, I would really like to. She loved nothing more than to break me so that she could comfort my brokenness. But I’m an adult now. Once I was a victim, now I am a volunteer; now I have internalized my abuser. I have some of her weapons, and some I have added. I do it when I talk to myself, when I won’t get out of bed, when I couldn’t finish this article for a month.

And at the same time I have a picture of three-year-old me, my inner child, and ten-year-old me, my outer child, on my refrigerator. I talk to them, too. I tell them they are good enough, worthy of love and happiness and all the things the rest of the world seems able to allow themselves to have. I hope that one day we’ll all believe it.

What if life on the other side of a year of continuous sobriety isn’t beyond my wildest dreams? No need to worry about that, I’ll probably never get there. My promise is an unopened present, though I have shaken the box more than a few times. Now, it’s possibly rotting.

How do I change? When does my sobriety and not my ego, not my love of a pattern repeating, become the most important person in the room? Will this time be different? Every time is. Will it be different in the way that I need it to be? I don’t know.

If the first step is honesty, these words are my only hope. These are the thoughts I keep in the shadows, the patterns with which I choose to keep myself trapped, the self-victimization through which I am still waiting to awaken, still waiting to let down my golden hair for some knucklehead prince to save me.

What if I could climb past the first plateau of growth in recovery and keep climbing? What if I could continue to work on sobriety on the days I don’t feel like I need it? What if I could stop wanting to be something and start working on becoming it?

Every time I come back, I remember that I am not God. That I don’t have to do it on my own, that nobody really cares if I’m happy besides me.

I would say wish me luck, but I’ve had so much of that. Wish me consistency over time. Wish me willingness. I am tossed by the waves yet I do not sink; I have proven that. Wish me, to stay.

View the original article at thefix.com

8 October 2018
Artificial Intelligence System Aims To Identify Drug Thefts In Hospitals

The technology is meant to be used as a tool to help administrators monitor employees and alert them to anything unusual.

A new artificial intelligence system will monitor hospital workers and assign them a score that indicates how likely they are to steal prescription drugs from their workplace. The technology will address the growing issue of healthcare workers diverting drugs from their place of employment.

“The technology calculates how unusual one’s behavior is versus peers in their department, as well as peers across other hospitals, and analyzes a number of underlying metrics and patterns to create an overall risk score,” said Kevin MacDonald, CEO of Kit Check, which developed the system.

Kit Check develops software for prescription drug management, and works with about 400 hospitals and other healthcare clients throughout the U.S. and Canada. The new system will assign employees an Individual Risk Identification Score (IRIS). This is calculated by looking at data from drug dispensing cabinets, electronic medical records and drug disposal records.

“The IRIS dashboard then shows who has the most risk in ranked order so hospital personnel can focus on people who are showing risky patterns,” MacDonald said. “The technology allows an administrator to look at why a person is scored as unusually risky and shows the specific transactions that contributed to the risk score.”

The technology is meant to be used as a tool to help administrators monitor employees and alert them to anything unusual.

“A person’s score can change over time, and it’s not a 100% certainty that a high score means a staff member is diverting medications,” MacDonald said. “There will be situations where a person’s patterns shifted in an unusual—but explainable—way, for example, temporarily getting assigned to a different department/pattern. IRIS allows hospital personnel to have that conversation, evaluate the available data, and move on to other staff members that represent high risk.”

A Utah hospital reported that up to 4,800 patients may have been exposed to hepatitis C in 2015 through a nurse who diverted medications by swapping needles with narcotics for needles containing saline. Healthcare workers who steal medications is a growing problem, according to some healthcare professionals.

“I think we’re all trying to figure this out,” said Angela Dunn, a medical epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Scott Byington, president of the Utah chapter of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators, said that diversions from hospitals are likely to go unreported.

“A lot of the clinics or hospitals, when they catch employees doing theft, I would say more go unreported than reported,” he said. “All of a sudden somebody doesn’t show up for work and the rumor mill starts going. They’ll report it to us anonymously, usually, and when we go to investigate, (Human Resources employees) sometimes will just say, ‘We’re not going to release any information from that.’”

Christine Nefcy, chief medical officer at McKay-Dee Hospital in Utah where the hep-C exposures occurred, said drug abuse is “rampant in communities across our country. Hospital personnel, hospital employees aren’t any different.”

View the original article at thefix.com

6 October 2018
Trump Says Sobriety Is One Of His "Few Good Traits"

The president went on to say that he would “be the world’s worst” if he drank.

President Trump told reporters on Monday that his sobriety was one of his “few good traits.”

“I’m not a drinker. I can honestly say I’ve not had a beer in my life. That’s one of my only good traits. I don’t drink,” Trump said, according to ABC News. “I’ve never had alcohol, you know, for whatever reason. Can you imagine if I had what a mess I’d be?”

The president went on to say that he would “be the world’s worst” if he drank.

Alcohol came up during the press conference in relation to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh who has been in the spotlight for an alleged sexual assault that reportedly took place when he was drunk. During a congressional hearing he was open about the fact that he enjoys alcohol. “Yes, we drank beer. My friends and I, the boys and girls. Yes, we drank beer. I liked beer. Still like beer. We drank beer,” Kavanaugh testified.

“I was surprised at how vocal he was about the fact that he likes beer,” Trump said. “He’s had a little bit of difficulty. I mean, he talked about things that happened when he drank. This is not a man that said alcohol was absent.”

On Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel picked up the comments on his late night talk show, saying it was alarming that anything about the potential Supreme Court Justice would surprise the president who is trying to appoint him.

“After the Kavanaugh hearing last week, it was really hard to enjoy a beer this weekend,” Kimmel said. “Imagine being so off the rails, you even surprised Donald Trump with something.”

“By the way, I feel like it’s worth mentioning that this guy who has never had a drink in his life once had his own brand of vodka with his name on it,” Kimmel pointed out. “That’s kind of all you need to know about him.”

Trump’s brother died from complications of alcoholism at the age of 42, which is part of the reason why Trump doesn’t imbibe, the president has said in the past.

“He was a great guy, a handsome person. He was the life of the party. He was a fantastic guy, but he got stuck on alcohol,” Trump told People in 2015. “And it had a profound impact and ultimately [he] became an alcoholic and died of alcoholism.”

After seeing his brother’s struggle, Trump decided to stay away from booze.

“I’ve known so many people that were so strong and so powerful [yet] they were unable to stop drinking,” he said.

View the original article at thefix.com

5 October 2018
Surgeon General Mentions Brother’s Opioid Addiction In New Report

“I tell my family’s story because far too many are facing the same worries for their loved ones,” the Surgeon General wrote in the report.

The U.S. Surgeon General has released an updated report on the opioid crisis—to call for Americans to talk about opioid abuse, understand addiction as a disease and be prepared to use naloxone if needed.

Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Spotlight on Opioids was released on September 20 and updates the previous Surgeon General’s report on addiction.

In the report, Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams opened up about his own family’s experience with opioid addiction.

“My family and I are among the millions of Americans affected by substance use disorder,” Adams wrote in the report. “My younger brother has struggled with this disease, which started with untreated depression leading to opioid pain reliever misuse. Like many with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder conditions, my brother has cycled in and out of incarceration. I tell my family’s story because far too many are facing the same worries for their loved ones. We all ask the same question: How can I contribute to ending the opioid crisis and helping those suffering with addiction?”

The updated report highlights the fact that available addiction treatment often lags behind what science says are best practices.

“The existing healthcare workforce is understaffed, often lacks the necessary training, and has been slow to implement Medicated-Assisted Treatment, as well as prevention, early identification, and other evidenced-based recommendations,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release.

Partially because of this, only 1 in 4 people with opioid use disorder receive specialized treatment. In order to help more people get sober, law enforcement, faith communities and healthcare providers need to come together to streamline access to treatment.

“Now is the time to work together and apply what we know to end the opioid crisis,” said Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use (under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). “Medication-assisted treatment combined with psychosocial therapies and community-based recovery supports is the gold standard for treating opioid addiction.”

The report concludes with actionable steps that various people can take to reduce the harm from opioid addiction. Family members should be non-judgmental and trained in using naloxone, the report says.

Healthcare providers should treat addiction with the same care that they dedicate to other chronic diseases. Communities should raise awareness by talking about substance abuse as a public health concern.

“Through partnerships, we can address the overall health inequities and determinants of health that exist where we live, learn, work, and play,” Adams wrote. “Together we can reduce the risks of opioid misuse, opioid use disorder, and related health consequences such as overdose and infectious disease transmission.”

View the original article at thefix.com

5 October 2018
"Alaskan Bush People" Star Matt Brown Returns To Rehab

“We miss him terribly, but we’d rather lose him from home for a little while than lose him forever,” says Matt’s father, Billy.

Matt Brown, a star on the popular Discovery channel reality show, Alaskan Bush People, has entered rehab for alcoholism for the second time.

“I struggle with substance abuse, and after a year of ups and downs, I decided to return to treatment,” Brown told People for the upcoming print issue. “I’m really grateful for everyone’s support and hope to have my life back on track soon.”

Making a public announcement with People magazine for a second trip to rehab (his first was in 2016) is a strangely hopeful sign for America’s struggle with addiction. The social stigma of addiction is fading, as it is better and more widely understood that addiction is a disease—one that often includes “relapse as part of recovery,” as is frequently said in Alcoholics Anonymous.

After his first experience in rehab, Juneau Empire spoke to Brown’s mother Ami about their family lineage. “I come from a family of alcoholism. My father was an alcoholic and it tore our family apart. Watching these things as a child, you learn from it. That is the reason why I don’t let them know where, physically, I am.”

The Brown family had been hit with a serious stressor, as Matt Brown’s mother Ami was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. She has since been declared cancer-free and undergoes frequent testing to monitor her health. Struggling with multiple moves around the country can also put undo pressure on a family.

After his first stint in rehab, Brown chose to drink in moderation but in the last year, he found that his drinking was becoming increasingly problematic so he chose to enter rehab again. While the family history of alcoholism put Brown at higher risk for addiction, his family’s support gives him a better chance at successful sobriety.

His mother Ami supports this decision. “It’s hard not having one of my babies here with us,” she told People magazine. “He was so strong for me, and I want to be strong for him.”

Brown’s father Billy agrees. “We miss him terribly, but we’d rather lose him from home for a little while than lose him forever. We just want him to do what he needs to do to get better.”

View the original article at thefix.com

5 October 2018
5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Hit Rock Bottom

When you’re at your lowest point, it’s easy to feel like there is no hope, like you are completely alone, like your life will never be full again.

Rock bottom is such a common term in the world of recovery. And while everyone has a rock bottom, no one has the same one. When you’re at your lowest point, it’s easy to feel like there is no hope, like you are completely alone, like your life will never be full again. I certainly felt all those things and more a little over five years ago when I hit my bottom.

But they say hindsight is 20/20, and in looking back, there are a few things I wish I had been able to reach out and grasp from my bottom. In hopes that they might help someone else, here they are:

1. There Is Always a Light at the End of the Tunnel

When I think back to the first few days and weeks following my rock bottom, I remember an all-encompassing feeling of utter hopelessness. I felt there was literally no way life would ever get better, that things would only get worse as time went on. I didn’t think there was any way out of the hole I had found myself in. I was really, truly incapable of envisioning a life in which I was happy without alcohol. I know I’m not alone in those feelings. Those emotions and struggles are true of many people when they hit their lowest of lows. It is called rock bottom for a reason — that reason being that you cannot go any lower. The only direction to go is up. But in the midst of it all, it’s so hard to see that. At rock bottom, I wish I had been able to reach out and grasp that little bit of hope that everything would be OK, rather than fixating on how my life was falling apart at the seams. Seeing that light at the end of the tunnel is something that would have been helpful. But what matters is that the light eventually made its way to me, and when it did, I kept walking toward it. Some days, I still am.

2. Even in Your Loneliest Moments, You Are Not Alone

In addition to feeling utterly hopeless early on, I also felt completely, wholly alone — more alone than I have ever felt in my life. I couldn’t imagine that anyone in the world was going through what I was going through. And maybe that’s true, to an extent. But it’s also true that there were people going through similar things; I just hadn’t crossed paths with them yet. I also felt alone in the sense that I was scared to talk to the people closest to me about what I was feeling and thinking. Instead, I kept it all bottled inside, isolating myself even more. It was only when I began to let my guard down that I realized I had had people beside me all along. I had never been alone, I had just convinced myself that was the case.

3. The People Who Matter Will Remain by Your Side

As my life was falling apart five and a half years ago, one of my main concerns was what would happen to my relationships. I was so scared of losing the people who I thought were important to me. And the truth is that not all of my relationships would survive the coming weeks and months. There were some friends who I came to find were really just drinking buddies. Those were the ones who slowly faded away. But at my lowest point, the people who really cared about me as a person came forward and made it known. So many of my relationships became stronger in the months following my rock bottom, to the point that I barely noticed the relationships that hadn’t pulled through. When everything is changing without your permission, it’s easy to feel as if it’s for the worst. But just remember that’s not always the case.

4. People Won’t Judge You as Harshly as You Think They Will

This was one of my biggest fears at my rock bottom and is what kept me from moving forward in my recovery for some time. I was so terrified that when people found out what had happened in my life, they would pass judgement and jump to conclusions. I was afraid that they would look at me differently or tell me I was overreacting. And sure, some people did. But the majority of people commended me for realizing that my life was spiraling out of control and for taking the steps to better it. Most people were and are beyond supportive of the decision I made five years ago, and I wish I’d known that would be the case when I made that decision. One thing I’ve learned is that people will always surprise you — you just have to give them the opportunity to do so.

5. Rock Bottom Is an Opportunity to Recreate Your Life

Before I hit my rock bottom, I thought the life I was living was pretty good. I didn’t realize that I was disappointed in my behavior, unhappy with my physical appearance, frustrated with the way I was becoming a person I didn’t respect. But rock bottom gave me the clarity to see all those things. And while that wasn’t fun at first, it eventually gave me the chance to start doing my life the right way. I got back on track, whether it was with my morals, my workout regimen, my diet, my relationships. Getting sober gave me the time to focus on what I really wanted my life to look like and figure out how to get to that point.

As I said before, rock bottom is different for everyone. But the common factor is that it’s a point that is the lowest of lows and it can be difficult to image anything getting better. So if you remember one thing in the depths of your rock bottom, just hold onto the fact that it really can only get better — as long as that is what you truly want for yourself.

View the original article at thefix.com

5 October 2018