A Goodbye Letter to Drugs & Addiction

In your goodbye letter to drugs, describing the effects abuse has had on your life can motivate change. Having problems with the law, strained personal relationships, damaged reputation, and damaged self-esteem are some effects we don’t want to acknowledge. For many, cutting ties with an addiction is similar to breaking up a long-term relationship. Going through detox and addiction treatment is effective, but it’s common to enter sobriety feeling like there are unresolved issues. Many times writing a goodbye letter to your addiction can be the closure you need to leave your old way of life behind and begin a wonderful journey in recovery. This is often suggested by therapists at drug and alcohol rehab.

When using this tool, one writes without regard to normal conventions of grammar and spelling. Instead, one writes to express their emotions and feelings around an event, or set of events, that has deeply affected their lives. What can you say on paper that you cannot say out loud? This letter is for your eyes only, so you do not need to hide anything. What do you hope to gain by becoming sober? Goals can help you change your behavior and maintain momentum in life.

Write as many letters as you can

Breaking free from addiction is difficult, but it will be the finest decision you ever make. Write a goodbye addiction letter and express your true feelings to yourself and enjoy the freedom and new life. C) YOU stole my reputation when you caused me to lie to my friends and family. You lied to me and made me believe that they would believe my lies and what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. D) YOU destroyed the positive relationships that I had spent years building. You took away the only people who I ever truly knew understood me and left me with no one to talk to, and afraid to ask for help.

  • You broke me down throughout my adult life, leaving me physically and emotionally corrupted.
  • To make a longer term impact a gift to the endowment fund will provide patient assistance funding for years to come.
  • As past chair of NAATP’s Ethics Committee, Jay was instrumental in important changes made to the organization’s code of ethics.
  • On June 12, 2012, Jerry entered into a rehab facility called the Haven of Rest in Anderson, SC., where he spent 16 months.
  • Find Addiction Rehabs is not a medical provider or treatment facility and does not provide medical advice.
  • The other people I was with were bothered by that, and they began to avoid me because they didn’t like you — and they no longer liked the “me” I had become.

Resurgence Behavioral Health will work to make your detox process as painless as possible. We are proud to be accredited by Carf CCAC and The Joint Commission providing the most exceptional care available. I spent years trying to leave you, but I never succeeded for more than a few days or weeks at a time. This helps to physically put things in perspective, especially being able to visualize the thoughts and behaviors that have been causing so much trouble. But, my dear addiction, I see you for what you are.

Write positive affirmations for yourself

Cinde regularly trains on topics ranging from 12-step based Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Spiritual Care principles to ethical practice and clinical supervision. Her core belief is that love is more powerful than the wounds we have experienced, and, in fact, can cause us to become our strongest at those places. Sarah Crow from MSN Bestlife Online discusses 9 common eating disorders beyond anorexia and bulimia.

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There was even a part of me that believed I could become a better person with you. You constantly blocked me from doing any of the things I wanted to do. In that sense, you quickly became my worst nightmare. Because of you, I ended up doing things that I never in a million years thought I would be capable of doing.

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I will also apologize to those whom I have hurt because of how you influenced me. The goodbye letter to alcohol between you and I may be at an end, but it is not too late for me to rebuild my relationships with my family members and friends. That said, I know I cannot blame you entirely for the way things have gone. Just as I am working to regain control in my life, I am also taking responsibility. I chose to start our relationship, and now I am choosing to end it. I know that saying “goodbye” to you for good will take hard work, but I am doing exactly that.

David Velasco on The Power of Good-Bye – Artforum

David Velasco on The Power of Good-Bye.

Posted: Mon, 05 Feb 2018 16:47:37 GMT [source]

She earned a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Alliant International University . Her current research focuses on family issues, teen behavioral issues, teen substance abuse, mental health, and relationships. His professional experience includes the entire spectrum of treatment from detox to long term residential treatment. Some of us have been using drugs and alcohol for five, ten, even twenty years, going in and out of drug and alcohol rehab. They played such a large role in our lives, drugs leave a void behind when we stop using.

Dear Addiction to Heroin

When I objected that I needed school to find a good career, you told me that I didn’t need a career, that there were other ways of making money aside from hard work. You don’t stop even when we are lying broken on the floor, crying and begging for mercy. You don’t stop when we are shaking, physically withdrawing from your chemicals.

  • I now know that none of these feelings were genuine and that I was being manipulated throughout our time together.
  • Saying goodbye to you seems like the hardest thing I’ll ever have to do.
  • Drug abuse can be a coping mechanism to maintain a brief increase in dopamine or suppress your mental illness symptoms.
  • The addiction isn’t worth what you’ve lost.

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