If you are viciously addicted to something such as drugs or alcohol and you have people who love you, count yourself lucky as they will ideally team up to ensure you are institutionalized for your health.
If you are viciously addicted to something such as drugs or alcohol and you don’t have anyone who loves you, count yourself lucky as you have no one who you can hurt, but you may ultimately die alone.
If you are viciously addicted to something such as drugs or alcohol and you have people in your life who don’t love you and don’t wish what’s best for you, then count yourself lucky as you will likely end up incarcerated, removed you from hurting yourself or others for a time, but you will still have your addiction and will lose countless years to prison.
But, ultimately, the choice is yours:
An asylum.
Dead, alone.
Or in prison.
Serious addiction not only hurts you, but those who care most.
At the end of things, we can only help ourselves first — remove the plank, as it were.
But, we must want to help ourselves, especially with addiction. Forced abstinence will only make you lustful and angry.
If you’re going to be an addict — pills, heroin, fentanyl, or just be a drunk — at least be “Hippocratic” about it, and abuse safely by yourself, sparing your spouse, children, parents, friends, or family from pain.
You don’t deserve whatever pain is haunting you into addiction. But, they also don’t deserve being your emotional broom and dustbin.
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These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”