Most people have suffered wide-ranging types of addiction, from the mundane to the ones that cause harm to themselves or to others.
Compulsive shopping and drinking gallons of coffee on a daily basis are common addictions, as are more extreme examples like being dependent on illegal substances or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.
It's a slippery slope that many individuals experience and are in too deep to even notice their vices have taken control over their precious lives.
It takes a major lifeline in the form of an intervention or hitting an absolute lowest point in life to come to terms with the issues, recalibrate their choices, and, hopefully, turn things around.
Those who've miraculously turned their lives around shared their stories when Redditor CreepyAssociation173 asked:
"Ex addicts of Reddit, what was your rock bottom that made you realize you had to stop?"
Former alcoholics who survived the worst wanted to share their harrowing accounts of a former life.
Waking From A Coma
"I was a serious alcoholic for many years. 5 years ago I ended up in a coma. 2 weeks later I woke up and never looked back. I feel like a part of me died. I lost a lot of friends, family, money, etc. but I’m happy with the outcome."
"I have two brothers. Both of them have a fentanyl addiction. The youngest one (in his 20s) died 3 days ago. We both found him and tried to save him, saw things we will never forget. The other brother is now 2 days clean in detox and getting ready to start rehab after finishing. Hopefully he never looks back either."
– Quick-Potato-3638
Parents Come To The Rescue
"I didn't drink until college, but when I did I hit it like a freight train. By the time I was in my late 20s I was having withdrawal seizures. Had my first one Dec 26th 2016 and that kept up until 2020. I was hospitalized multiple times for them and had more that went 'unreported' (once at work) but I don't think anyone really noticed or cared enough to do anything substantial about it. Even myself. Every day I would vomit and feel sick, I had bruises everywhere from god knows what, but I never really cared enough to change. Between me and my husband we were going though 3 handles of cheap vodka a week. What broke me, us, it, whatever was my husband's body giving out Feb 2020 just as the world fell apart too. Our dog died Feb 15th and I think part of us did too, for husband anyways it was his liver and kidneys. They had finally had enough and called it quits. By the time he got to the ER Feb 23rd he was a Simpsons character. As he got treatment and I stayed by his side, still drinking insanely but now he was in the hospital so I was alone."
"In mid March he somehow got a transfer to Stanford and started the process for a liver and kidney transplant with about a 30% chance of survival. His family hated me at this point and I was forbidden to contact him and, I broke. There was no one, espctially now with Covid making it's debut to help or care about me. For two weeks I drank, sized, vomited, cut myself, fell downstairs... It was actually this *exact* time 3 years ago where I was all alone with no one but vodka and my cat and somehow I didn't die. Heh. Then the lockdown was offically called for California March 25th and my MIL decided to evict me the same day so my parents begrudgingly drove the 4hrs to get me, load up their car with as much of my crap (but mostly toilet paper) as possible and I lived in their basement for 3 years while I picked up the pieces of my little life. I couldn't quit cold turkey, I was still having seizures at this point, but I weened myself off slowly and now on Day 990! Comma Club here I come!"
– FroggiJoy87
Acknowledging Is The First Step
"Not an addict myself, unfortunately he only realized he really needed to stop right before it killed him. My fiance was a severe alcoholic, at his worst he drank half a gallon of vodka a day. He'd been trying to quit for a while, off and on, I kept trying to get him to stop. I'd go to doctor's appointments with him and he would always avoid saying he was an alcoholic because he didn't want it on his medical record. He hadn't been feeling well for a while, he had to quit drinking two or three days before because we were broke, and he asked me to take him to the hospital. We got into triage and the nurse was going through intake questions with him, and he said 'I am an alcoholic.' That shocked me, that's how I knew it was rock bottom, because he'd been so adamant that no medical professional know he's an alcoholic, but this time, he didn't even hesitate. His liver was failing, and a week later he died. I wish so badly that he could've gotten better and turned it around, I really think he could have if he survived, but I also think he knew it was the end."
– Swell_Inkwell
Becoming Jobless
"Getting fired. Having to tell my spouse who was unaware of my issue (I functioned very well). Then getting served divorce papers while I was entering treatment two weeks later. My home became the treatment center for 90 days and when I was finished I had nowhere to go since my spouse took possession of the house. So I was homeless, penniless, jobless. That pretty much incentivized me to continue on my path of recovery."
– Phasianidae
These habits wound up costing Redditors financial losses.
The First Addiction
"I've hit rock bottom a few times for different addictions. The first was my gambling addiction. It was so bad that I was stealing scratch tickets from my workplace, where we weren't even allowed to be playing lottery from in the first place. I got fired (understandably), and my boss could have easily pressed charges, but he didn't. He gave me a second chance for which I will forever be grateful."
– maymayiscraycray
Saving The Life Of A Pet
"Mine was only weed but I was spending around $600 a week. My rock bottom was spending my dog’s home euthanasia savings on drugs, she had a brain tumour so I had the money aside so she could go comfortably when the time was right. She was my closest family and meant the world to me, I’d have traded our places in a second if I could’ve, she was all the goodness in my life. I ended up quitting cold turkey, did some extra work and sold a bunch of my possessions to remake the money within a week, was just in time to because she needed that money a few days later."
"The realisation that I had put my addiction before the comfort of my beloved dying dog was my turning point."
– Chrysocyon_b
Not everyone who battles drug addiction manages to come out the other side alive. Fortunately, these Redditors did.
Waking Up In The Hospital
"Im making this post with no intention of deleting it like 90% of what I post in hopes it will make me more accountable."
"I OD’d recently on some presses/xanax (been addicted to fent for close to 3 years now and was using heroin before then)."
"Woke up in the hospital with no hearing and realized I have no friends, either dead or couldnt handle watching me tear myself apart from closer than an arms length. I’ve been running around the last 6 years lashing out at myself and hurting others in the process. It made me feel selfish and uncaring."
"I’ve been on a subuxone taper since and threw all the sh*t I had out the moment I got back. 14th time is the charm or some sh*t."
– burgerstm
A Friend's Response To Rambling
"I used to down amphetamine pills like crazy back in the day. The end of that train happened when I was sitting with a friend who knew me prior to these addictions, and he was looking at me like I had two heads as I rambled on and on and cried and burst out laughing and basically made a huge scene of myself in the middle of a restaurant. After that day, I called up my dad and told him I needed to come crash at his house for a couple of weeks as I detoxed. I didn’t realize just how fried my brain was because most of my life for a year was spent surrounded by other people just as off the chain as me."
– Upstairs_Cow
Addictions can take on many forms, and some might not even be able to identify them as an addiction.
But others have talked about social media addictions, phone addiction and even work addiction, where an employee took on more shifts to make more money but later realized they were missing out on life.
Anything that takes you away from living and slowly wears you down is not healthy.
As one Redditor noted, here's an encouraging note to leave on.
NightKatCares00 wrote:
"For everyone who is struggling-"
"Please, keep trying. Keep fighting. You can do it, I believe in you. It sucks and it's hard, but you CAN do it!"
"Don't give up, please. You are wonderful and deserve it. You can do this!"
I love a good positive affirmation.
Life is hard and cruel.
So any Oprah/Dr.Phil life reinforcement is helpful.
Redditor internallyskating wanted to hear the quotes that can help us all.
"What’s a quote that permanently changed the way you look at things?"
My pen and paper are ready...
Free
let it go GIFGiphy“'Let go or be dragged' and old zen proverb I heard at a meditation class. Really changed the way I let myself worry about things."
Reagan99
"Wisdom tells me I am nothing, love tells me I am everything, and between the two my life flows."
Whippersnapper1967
"This really hit me. Thank you for sharing! Will be one of my favorites from now on."
Sassypantz72
Hearing
"'Do you listen or just wait to speak.'"
Shermthedank
"Reading all the other comments and thinking yeah that makes sense and yeah I'll use that. Then there's this that's really hit home, I get so far through listening then hear something I want to reply to and then don't hear any more of the conversation."
10/90 rule...
"I had a professor in college he called it the 10/90 rule. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. Changed my life."
normalman714
"Many years ago, I realized much of my unhappiness was because my expectations of people were so high that no one could ever live up to them, and this left me eternally disappointed. So I lowered them nearly to the ground. Since then, I'm far more happy and more content with the world around me. It completely transformed my outlook on life."
LaLa_LaSportiva
“liked by all”
"If you wouldn't take advice from them, why would you take criticism? - some dude on youtube. I just never thought of it that way before, and I stopped spending so much energy trying to get people to like me."
Howdydobe
"I realized my efforts to be 'liked by all' contradicted my desire to like myself when I came across this quote somewhere: If you don’t have any enemies, then you don’t have any character. Or, as I have since internalized it: I don’t want everyone to like me."
snugglepackTM
Hmm?
canadian what GIF by CBCGiphy"Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today."
We all need to dig deep. It all starts in the mirror.
Yes I do...
"Honesty without kindness is brutality. Kindness without honesty is manipulation. Yes I do. I think manipulation is a controlling act practiced by those who refuse to admit what it is they are seeking from others. Probably because they don’t want to hear an answer any different from the one they’ve given themselves. So they strategically coerce you into doing something you actually don’t want to do."
uhreeee
"recycle"
"No one raindrop thinks it causes the flood."
Santos61198
"I wonder if matter cannot be destroyed nor created, won't we eventually run out of resources since everything we didn't 'recycle' (that's a whole other topic) is in the landfills?"
"Landfill mining seems dangerous, toxic and unsanitary. Lots of sharp stuff, chemicals, spoiled food, oils, human byproduct, anything and everything that will easily cause injury. So much plastic mixed with every element in the periodic table it seems beyond modern technology to convert the mixed elements back to basic, raw, useable materials for production."
executordestroyer
The Educated
"'It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.'"
"Aristotle."
"And yes it isn't the real quote but elementary school aged me internalized that thought and I have applied it to everything ever since then."
Redmoon383
Sweet
Bong Joon Ho Korea GIF by NEONGiphy“'You might be the sweetest peach on the tree, but some people just don’t like peaches.'”
"This helped me get over my lifelong desire to be liked by everyone, and allowed me to focus on becoming someone I actually liked."
sansaspark
I'm putting all of this in my journal.
People Explain Which Teen Movies Made Them Think 'The Older I Get, The More I Agree With The Adult'
There's a fairly common formula in movies geared toward a teenage audience.
A group of teenagers face one central conflict, to varying degrees of importance and severity, but manage to solve it in a surprisingly short manner of time.
The heroes of these films are usually a hodgepodge of traditional high school archetypes (star athlete, math nerd, girl whose beauty is disguised by a pair of glasses), all of whom the intended audience can completely relate to and root for.
And then we have the adult characters, who are often buffoonish stereotypes, or the outright villain, whose sole mission is to ensure the protagonist will not achieve their ultimate goal.
As teenagers, we often find ourselves ready to boo these grown-ups from the minute they appear on the screen.
But when we revisit these movies as adults, we find ourselves noticing that their behavior isn't quite as bad as we remembered.
Or, more shockingly, we actually find ourselves rooting for them!
"What teen movie is the epitome of 'the older I get, the more I agree with the adult?'"
The Teacher Was Right All Along...
"Rewatching 'Scrubs', I realize I’m no longer a JD., I’ve become a Cox."- RenegadeRinker
They Were Just Being Protective!
"I watched 'Sixteen Candles' recently and I now do not approve of Samantha going anywhere near Jake Ryan."-goblininstigator
All It Takes Is A Little Perspective
"Sadly, 'The Wonder Years'."
"I always couldn’t believe the dad was real, with his pissed off attitude from work."
"Now I understand."- hashn
The Wonder Years Thumbs Down GIFGiphyNothing Wrong With A Little Precision And Order!
"The movie 'Juno'."
"Jennifer Garner's character is at first portrayed as a 'square', then you realize she's a mature adult and her husband is a man-baby."- DaveFarted
Add It Up, The Wedding Cost Nearly $150,00!
"Not a teen movie, but 'Father of the Bride'."
"Watching it as a kid, Steve Martin seemed like an old grump."
"Rewatching it as an adult, holy sh*t he is the only sane person in that movie."- DrOctopusMD
It Was Literally His Job To Protect Them!
"'The Lion King'."
"Oh I thought Zazu was just an old fun-killer."
"What do you mean, Simba can't be king?"
"Why would you prevent the kids from going where they want?"
"As an adult and father, I'm 100% Team Zazu."- Oneiric86
the lion king GIF by DisneyGiphySeriously, Would Your Dad Have Been So Cool About It?...
"'American Pie'."
"As a new father, I hope to be like Jim’s dad when my little one is a teenager."
"Caring, loving and a complete embarrassment to them."- BanjoPhatterson
It's A Parent's Job To Worry.
"The mom in 'Ice Princess'."
"So you have a daughter who has a talent for and seems to like physics and has a shot of getting into Harvard."
"This girl throws it away for ice skating where she has only been competing for less than a year, where if she gets injured she's done and when she reaches 30 she's pretty much done."
"There is no way she is at an olympic level at that point she would need years of training! "
"Hell yes I would advise against it to!"- testmonkey254
Always Be Respectful Of Your Roommate!
"Goob, 'Meet the Robinsons'."- beepboop232
Meet The Robinsons Google GIFGiphyPeople Are Complicated
"Dr Doofenschmirtz."
"He’s just trying to do something right and being a good dad."- LukeLJS123
Dancing
"In Dirty Dancing, Jerry Orbach just wanted a family summer vacation and instead learned entirely too much about his daughters’ sex lives." - User Deleted
Menace
"Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace. Seriously, f**k that little miscreant and his parents that turn a blind eye to his shenanigans." -HotTub_MKE
Wimpy
"Haven't watched the movies, but I assume that the movies are similar enough, Diary of a wimpy kid, bro, your mom just wants to stop being a housewife and have a job and you complain that she isn't in the house anymore to be your personal slave, when you get from school you don't even greet her, you just give her your back pack, you little sh*t, do one thing in your life, did you ever thank her for anything Gregory?" - Torture-Dancer
Wonka
"Gene Wilder in original Charlie and the Chocolate factory “stop, don’t... come back” - isaacmorton
Good Will
"Good Will Hunting."
"A great film to watch as a smug, witty underachiever, however genuinely smart & funny you might be (at least according to your friends)."
"But go back to it 15 or 20 years later, perhaps after losing your wife to cancer, and you'll freak out at this scene."
"Source: No idea how smart or funny I really used to be, but I was definitely smug. I married the person I'd been with since we were both 16. She died at 33." - cdeverett
Rugrats
"Rugrats. The parents were so young and just doing their best. I like it was a group of neighbors that were best friends too. I get really stressed out on their behalf now. Especially the one where didi just wants to make it home before her banana tree she bought died in the car but no one could get their sh*t together." - cunexttuesday12
Daria
"Way late to the party; but I’m gonna say “Daria”."
"I used to be a disaffected teen too. All my problems were SO HUGE! And Daria’s parents just DIDN’T UNDERSTAND!"
"I watch it now, and Jake Morgendorffer is who I identify best with. He’s supposed to seem silly and crazy and out of touch, but now I just see a guy who worries so much about providing for his family, dealing with insecurity about his masculinity, and trying to relate to his daughters any way he can in spite of being completely baffled by them, because his hypermasculine upbringing left him ill-equipped to relate to girls."
"Poor Jake. He just wants to be a better dad than his dad. And in spite of his goofiness, I think he does an okay job." - corran450
As teens we're inclined to revolt from our parents and teachers, or even be revolted by them.
But the older we get, the more we understand that nine times out of ten, they were just looking out for us.
Just as we realize that Mr. Hall of Clueless was being pretty generous giving a C to a student who didn't seem to know how to pronounce "Haitian"...
John F. Kennedy once said: "Change is the law of the life. Those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future".
Despite the words of one of America's most iconic presidents, America as a nation does seem to be shockingly unwilling to adapt to certain changes.
Or come to terms with certain realities which the rest of the world seems to have accepted long ago.
Making one think sometimes that all attempts to change in the United States are only heard by deaf ears.
"What are Americans not ready to hear?"
The Flaws In Our Electoral Process
"You need more than two political parties for democracy to work."- Minecraftfinn
Profanity
"The word, “c*nt'."- AlmostOptimistic
"I saw/heard footage of a school shooting broadcast on TV where a kid's swearing was bleeped out."
"Like swearing was the thing that tipped that scene over into indecent."
"But boy, could we hear the shots and the screams."
"You need to get your priorities sorted."- boothjop
Misconceptions About Other Countries
"México is not in sepia lightning."- TheoTiMa
y tu mama tambien cine GIFGiphySome Privacy Please!
"That the entire world excels at making bathroom stalls that you can’t see between."
"Not sure why the US stall manufacturers can’t figure out how to close those massive gaps."- Reddit
Is ANYONE Ready To Hear This?
"Fingernails scratching on an upstairs window coming from outside at 3 am."- who_said_I_am_an_emu
Fahrenheit ONLY!
"What temperature it is in Celsius."- recycle_ben
Arts Its Getting Hot GIF by Randstad NederlandGiphyNeeded Improvements In Maternity Leave
"You shouldn’t have to give birth then go back to work a week later."- NalaBenjamin
Get Those Steps In!
"You’d all be thinner if your cities were designed to be walkable."
"This is why you lose weight when you go to Italy despite eating nothing but pasta n pizza, because you’re walking everywhere."- Odd-Detail1136
You May Be Loud, But Doesn't Make You Right!
"The loudest voice in the room usually has the least to say."- Rminora
steve carrell anchorman GIF by FirstAndMondayGiphyWhen people become set in their ways, they understandably become less and less amenable to change.
But scary as change can be, it is also necessary.
Making it important to at least always hear what people have to say, and actually listen to them.
It's always interesting what ages well and what doesn't.
And, for that matter, how quickly something ages.
How often do we find ourselves sitting down to watch a film or TV show from only ten years ago to see how poorly it holds up?
Or, for that matter, how ten years ago we thought something would be the next big craze or trend, and instead see it become obsolete with each passing year.
Redditor jerydajery was curious to hear what things people were attracted or fascinated by a decade ago, but have little to no interest in today, leading them to ask:
"What was attractive 10 years ago but now isn't anymore?"
Blogging
"Honestly, I miss the blogging culture."
'Articles written with honesty and passion, mostly to connect with real-life friends first and online audiences second."
"Only the biggest bloggers could make a living off blogging."
"They were the original influencers."
"Easy to avoid though because there were just a handful of them, unlike the influencer culture of today."
"The one thing I love about blogging culture were the honest reviews."
'No advertisers to please, just regular folks writing their opinions on something they’ve used long term."
"Back then Google even had a specific search engine exclusively for blogs."
"Blogs were proper article length."
"Then Twitter came out and no one has the attention span anymore."
"That was the beginning of blogging downfall."
"What a shame."- Aemilia
Will probably skip the reunion...
"My classmates."
"Swear, every one of them is on crack now."- DOEsquire
GiphyWon't be much use anymore...
"Mayan calenders."- ThreeEdgeSword
Who.Knew.
"2020 definitely sounded attractive 10 years ago."
Did people actually do this?
"Having a moustache tattooed on the side of your finger."- garynzilla
GiphyDid anyone rock this look though?
"Girls rocking that Han Solo look."- CregDerpington
Everyone's getting so tense...
"I remember everyone going nuts about thigh gaps."- baeraerm·
People must have wanted to lighten the mood...
"Black granite countertops, apparently."- genteelbartender
Not so "hip" any more...
"Hipster culture made a 180."
"Now that's just a bad stereotype of a millennial."- steamedpasta
GiphyNo need to prove you're wearing underwear!
"Sagging your pants."- Ramdom901
"When your thong was visible above your pants."- deliriousspacechild
When in doubt, stick to your natural look.
"Smudged mascara around chick’s eyes."
"Don’t forget the OG guy liner."
" I personally never saw the appeal but everyone had it from 06-12."
"Oh, and the individual streaks of colored hair dye."- Charlirbravo
Slow and Steady Wins The Race...
"Being the fastest in class."- damangofr
Running Late On My Way GIF by MinionsGiphyBushy is beautiful!
"Thin eyebrows."
"Hope that doesn’t come back."- Difficult-Shallot-67
The "Beeb" would agree...
"Justin Beiber haircut."- Devitomann5000
Now they come digitally...
"Spam letters."
" All the time everywhere."
"Now you don't see them anymore."- Ninge3007
A tarnished legacy?
"Johnny Depp?"- Gompedyret
Hold on while I update my status.
"Being active on Facebook."- QuantumR
social media facebook GIF by weinventyouGiphyThe world becomes a different place with each passing year.
One can only imagine things we can't get enough of today which we won't be able to bear the sight of in ten years.
Though, it's safe to assume one thing we wouldn't mind seeing less of are medical masks and mobile testing sights...