“Being at ARC has shown me that a sober life is a life worth living. I have built a sober network that has allowed me to progress in my sobriety. I have gained the tools to remain clean and have built a solid foundation to start my new life.”
Dear addiction,
For a time I felt like all I needed in the world with you. For much of our time together, I felt happy and free of other desires. My pain seemed to go away and I didn’t worry about life. I even let my other relationships disintegrate, because of how strongly I felt towards you. I know that none of these feelings were genuine, and that I was being manipulated throughout our time together. Whenever I felt like you were the key to getting through life, it was nothing more than a lie. For this and many more reasons, it is why we must say goodbye forever. I am so much more than just another person risking their life through drug abuse, and I will not be a statistic. As good as I felt with you at times, I was absolutely miserable. I missed out on important events and gave up on so many things that once meant a lot to me. Because of you, I hit the absolute lowest points in my life and now realize that I am worth so much more. It’s finally time for me to regain control. I will pursue new opportunities, achieve new goals, and start living a healthier life. and no matter how difficult it may be. I know I cannot blame you entirely for the way things have gone. As I am working to regain control of my life, I am also taking responsibility. I will apologize to the ones I have hurt under your influence. Our relationship has come to an end, but it’s not too late for me to rebuild the relationships with the ones I love. I chose to start our relationship, and now I am choosing to end it. As challenging as this ending might be, I know it’s the right thing to do.
Russell M.
Dear addiction,
In the past, whenever a relationship came to an end, it was almost always hard for me to say goodbye, and yes, you and I have been through a lot but this time this goodbye will be easy.
Sure, we had a good time like the day we met when you made me feel so euphoric, and made me believe I had found the love of my life. But that was so long ago and pales in comparison to the shit you put me through.
I’ll admit that in the beginning you did help my pain and you were there through some really hard times. But looking back now, you are the cause of most of those hard times to begin with.
Being with you, with the worst relationship, I’ve ever been a part of. You are a liar and a thief. I’ve wasted the best years of my life on you. You took away my freedom and independence. You took my family, my job, and eventually my home. Not to mention all the material things you stole.
You are manipulative and needy. I’ve tried to leave you plenty of times before and time and again you’ve managed to somehow pull me back in. But not this time. I’ve had enough and you’ve made it to where I have nothing left to lose. Goodbye and good fucking riddance. I’m done with you and I will do what I can to help anyone else from being hurt by you again.
No Love,
Priscilla Y.
Dear Addiction,
I remember when you first came into my life. I thought you would ease the pain of my youth and make my present pain go away. I also thought that you could ease many of the struggles including issues I had in my personal and professional life. I believed that the more I poured into you, the less I would have to worry about my other problems. For a while, everything seemed fine. Seemed like you and I had a great relationship, but I was wrong.
You brought me more pain and suffering and became the neediest relationship I’ve ever had. All you ever did was take and take more than you gave. Then, you stopped giving it all.
You took almost everything away from me. You took away my job. You took away my family members and you took away my friends. Eventually, you took everything away from me. You became a nightmare. You made me do things I never thought I would be capable of doing. You made me what I hated the most.
It has become clear that everything is not okay. You were ruining me. You became incredibly cruel. You were constantly blocking me from doing any of the things I wanted to do. In that sense, you quickly became my worst nightmare.
Now, I am making the decision to leave you. I am deciding that I have had enough of you. You thought that you would be able to get rid of me. No, that will not happen. I will not let it, because I am stronger than you and I am saying goodbye. Without you, I am accomplishing more than I ever have. Without you, I am returning to the life and people I once loved because I know they still love me.
To my addiction, this is a goodbye. I never want to see you again. I am moving forward, I am a happier person without you, I am able to hold my children and watch them grow. My life is complete without you.
Demeika G.
Dear Addiction,
I have written these letters before but they were merely “see you soon”.. You’ve always been a trickster and every time you’ve fed me your beautiful lies, I’ve believed you. Not this time.
When I felt you the first time, it was the closest feeling to the dreams I’ve always had when I could fly. You gave me wings… little did I know you’d soon take away my entire day.
I was warned about you in school. I wore red ribbons and signed pledges to “just say no”.. Well, I’m not Nancy Reagan and you didn’t make saying “no” easy. You didn’t come to me from some sketchy guy in an alleyway wearing a trench coat, my closest friends brought you to me. They made you seem innocent and fun.
The first time I put the pipe to my mouth, I wasn’t thinking about DARE class, Jesus or Red Ribbons. I just wanted you to take the pain away and you did. You made me feel confident.. Taller, more handsome, more charismatic, stronger and faster.
You took me further than I ever wanted to go and kept me much longer than I ever intended on staying.
You came to me in many forms throughout the years… made me go up, down, be awake for weeks, sleep weekends away… made me remember and made me forget. I begged, borrowed, stole, lied, cheated and gambled with much more than just money for a few moments of escape. Eventually I had to have you just to try and block out what you and I turned my life into.
I’ve known for some time that you were a fraud but definitely never thought you’d try to kill me. Boy was I wrong. If there’s anything I can thank you for. It’s for showing me through a brush with death that I don’t want to die. But I don’t want to thank you for shit.
On December 30th, I chose life. I have now made the decision to end things with you for good. I am building a foundation and learning skills to use when you come knocking at my heart again. “You aren’t welcome here anymore” is what you’ll hear me say.
Ben H.
Dear Meth,
Over the years it has been like a toxic relationship that I wouldn’t let go of. At 1st it was fun, you numbed me when I was in pain, you would always be there as long as there was pain. As time went on you became a distraction from my family, my child and my responsibilities. When I began to feel shame for my lack of presence in the aspects of my life, I turned to more to numb the pain and to distract myself from my failures. You had become the bad boyfriend, that everyone who loved me told me to leave, but I didn’t hear them because you were keeping me from being a person who feels what they should to make sense out of the warnings. Every time I tried to get sober it was like a break up. Even though I would run back to you because I was in pain. This time is different because I am doing very well without you and I am doing it for me this time. So this is goodbye from being your victim and I will feel my pain and then start healing instead.
Ashley L.
