I've felt deeply unsettled since writing this update. But the reality is, addiction is degrading. This may feel like an amplified lens—and maybe it is—but the truth remains: addiction strips you down from the very beginning. You lose yourself in ways you never imagined.
Sometimes, capturing these feelings in a way that feels real is difficult—but the truth is, nothing about addiction is realistic. You never truly know what you're stepping into until you're already in it. I say that as an (former) addict myself. My experience is different in many, many ways—from the DOC to countless other factors—but the obsession, the struggles, the self-destruction, those are universal.
Today marks six months since I’ve been fully clean, after two years of cycling between sobriety and total wreckage. Writing this story has helped me cope with my own battles, even if parts of it feel exaggerated, cliché, or like just another stereotypical drug arc. But it helps. And at the end of the day, addiction doesn’t care about gender, background, or whatever false sense of invincibility makes you believe it could never happen to you or someone you love.
Let our voices be heard.