“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,
Saying goodbye to you seems like the hardest thing I’ll ever have to do. When you first came into my life you eased the pain of my youth and helped the present pain go away. But in the end you became the neediest relationship I’ve ever had and only brought me pain and suffering. All you did was take and take. The only thing you ever gave me was heartaches, sorrow, and torn-apart relationships. Addiction, you’re a liar, a thief, and a cruel partner. When I wanted things to change for the better you told me I couldn’t love without you. You made me into the person I said I would never become. You became the nightmare. You made me do things I thought I would never be capable of doing. You made me what I hated most. I tried to leave you before, but you just came back even stronger and harder than before. You physically and mentally made me sick and yet I still kept you around. People thought I loved you more but that was far from the truth. I hated you and what you had done to me but I was too scared to leave. I was scared of what life would be without you. I was watching you dig my own grave for me and trying to push me into it. You thought you would be saying goodbye but you were wrong. With the help, love and support of God, my family and friends, as well as the staff here at ARC, I have begun to fight back. I still hate you and what you have done to me and made me do to the people I love. Our relationship is over though. Relationships are being restored and new ones are forming. Without you addiction, I’m doing things I never thought were possible. So GOODBYE addiction. I never want to see you again.
Matthew S.
To my addiction,
It’s time to bid you farewell. You have overstayed your welcome and it is time for you to leave. At first I thought we were friends, I thought we could go and have fun but I was wrong. You presented yourself as a friend, something I had searched for my whole life. It was love at first sight. You were like any friend I ever had, you made me feel great about myself, gave me courage to do things I never would have done without you. It was good for a while but they say all good things must come to an end and that time is now.
Everywhere I went there you were. I thought I could control you, but it turns out it was actually the other way around. It turns out, you weren’t my friend. You didn’t care about me; all you wanted me to do was get messed up and make bad decisions. You made me ruin friendships, ruin my self-esteem, and make me make more horrible decisions I could barely live with. That’s when I realized that you were never a friend at all. Even after this realization I still let you back into my life. Something I never should’ve done, but I managed to kick you out. It’s been almost a month since I last saw you.
To my addiction, I truly hate everything that you made me become. I hate how you made me feel and I hate what you made me do. But I am telling you goodbye, for good. This is my farewell letter to you. You can finally pack your bags and move on somewhere else because I am over you. I don’t wish you well, and I surely won’t miss you.
Aaron G
I can’t believe I’m writing this to you… I’ve been thinking a lot lately and have decided I need to remove you from my life entirely. Please hear me. Try to understand. We were way too toxic for each other. We are way too toxic for each other. You had me believing I actually needed you! You had me believing there was not a life without you. For the first time in my life I am actually excited. I met someone who has changed my perspective from anything you taught me to everything I need to know. His name is God. When I met him I realized that I cannot have both of you in my life simultaneously. And when I met him he ignited a spark that you had extinguished a long time ago. And when I met him, I became reborn again. You are not worthy of knowing me as I am today. I know you would immediately destruct everything that I am trying to build. Don’t get me wrong though I am truly thankful for you and what you did to me. You built me as a person. You enabled me to be desperate, shameless, within and without and without feeling that I would not be as empathetic as I am today. To be as understanding as I am today. To be as appreciable as I am today. I find myself asking God about you (was the violence necessary?). I find myself praying to God about you. (please don’t meet anyone else.) Everyone you have been with before and after me… Do you realize we are uniting in a common cause? With the purpose being to stay away. With the purpose being to survive. I realize that this is all over the place but that is what you do to me. You make me unstable. You make me distracted. You make me unwell. You make me distorted. You make me uncensored. You make me both dead and alive. You are the most catastrophic catalyst I’ve ever known and will know. I don’t miss you. I don’t love you… I won’t miss you. I won’t love you. Just know I still think about you every day. But it is in the context of overcoming you. Of finding life and love after you. You never allowed me to see how beautiful I can be. How beautiful I am. You’ve taken everything, and you will never stop. So I have to let you know I’m moving on… Now that I know what I know today, I can’t allow you to destroy anymore. Watch me rise. Watch me breathe. Watch me build. Watch me stumble. Watch me run. Watch me laugh. Watch me love. Watch me pray. Watch me dream. Watch me. Watch me do everything you said I could never do. And while you’re there… enjoy the show.
Kayla J.
This is it. The last time we are going to do this. You have run my life for too many years. All the trouble you have caused me, all the pain you have caused my family. I feel nothing but anger and contempt for my actions. Each and every day with you I was a different person. You took precise years from my children. We started this way too long ago. Even after I let you go the first time we ended up together. No longer going to allow you to ruin my life. Today is a new day and I will not have you present in my life. With you I know there is no future for myself or my family with me. You helped me burn so many bridges and hurt so many people. Today I am taking back my life. Goodbye to the misery we dwelled in together. Goodbye to anger. Goodbye to the guilt, goodbye to you dope. Today I will rebuild everything we destroyed and continue on without you influencing me. I liked you for too long, but today I love me, my family, and my decisions.
Tyler B.
