Personal Narrative: My Addiction

At the age of nine, I watched my uncles lowering my father into the ground and what took his life was addiction. All my life I have watched addiction take over the lives of people, I love. My father's side of the family, besides my grandparents, has always faced addiction. Although, addiction runs through my blood, I will not take the same path I have watched people take all my life. I will be the one to end the cycle. Watching the majority of my family waste their life has motivated me to change the direction and better myself from living a life of addiction and misery.

Addiction is a theme that has been present throughout my life through members of my family and myself. My father was addicted to gambling and alcohol until finally, his drinking ended his life. My brother struggles with alcohol and keeping ahead of his problematic drinking. I have several cousins that float between alcohol and drugs to fulfill the need for an outside substance. For many years, I pondered how I had escaped the addiction curse in my family only to realize that my addiction is food. I overeat and self-sooth through food even though I have health concerns and know a better way. I spent most of my young adulthood angry at my father because he could not or would not change for his family. I am understanding more through education

Addiction is a disease that I will battle for the rest of my life. After being sexually assaulted at the age of twelve, I started to self-destruct. Lack of parental support, less than pristine living conditions, and an addictive personality paved an expressway to a life of addiction. I chose to hang with undesirable people, and was introduced to Marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy, PCP, Cocaine, Heroin and eventually what became the love of my life, the prescription painkiller Morphine. Never did I think that trying pot would have a domino effect. It led me to try harder and more addictive substances ultimately turning my life upside down. Often publicly

“Wake up, Logan.” That is how I remember my day starting. i was sound asleep when my mom woke me up i had to pack my bag because i was going to florida with my grandma . So i had get my bag packed and ready to go by 3:00 so i rushed myself and i was all packed and ready. All i was waiting for was a red jeep liberty to pull into our driveway.I got into the car and was ready to go so we drove to bloomington and we rented a hotel and our flight was tomorrow morning at 6:00 so we had dinner at noodles and company. So we ate and went to the hotel and we went swimming for a little bit so the time came 7:00 came we got ready for bed.DING,DING,DING,went our alarm we jumped out of bed and got all our bags together and jumped into the car.to the airport we go we got to the airport and

When people ask you, what do you want to be when you grow up? What do you answer? Most people would say they want to be a professional athlete, working in the sports industry, police officers, doctor, lawyer, working in the business industry, president, and a movie star. However, that’s not what Blake Landry wanted to do. Landry, who was a promising soccer player decided she was going to be a heroin addict for the rest of her life and that’s they it is. That is just one case out of hundreds of case where drugs and especially heroin can ruin someone life. Currently there is an epidemic of a heroin addiction going on in the world today.

My journey to understanding addiction did not start with walking into Epworth United Methodist Church, but started in a classroom in the basement of Toledo Promedica. Sixteen students and two clinical instructors gathered to hear a young man give his testimony on his road to recovery. He speaks of his own experience and knowledge of opioid addiction, and how to properly use Narcan Nasal Spray. He spoke on his own overdoses and the first time he felt the feeling of being “HIGH” sitting in front of a TV playing video games. The path of addiction started for him at the age of 13, when his father who is a doctor gave him cough syrup for a cough; consequently, he would chase the feeling of being high for years.

"And had he ever said that same thing to you' if anybody asked you haven't seen him'?"

It is one in the morning, the gloves go on and the capes are off. Red flashing sirens echoing in the ambient, “WEEOOO—WEEOOO ”, as it maneuvers toward the emergency room: the sound of footsteps dash diligently toward it as we prepare for the incoming chaos. The doors slide open increasing entropy levels, the level measuring disorder, leaving behind only signs and symptoms to manage. Male, 25 years of age, intoxicated, six stab wounds to the abdomen and, unresponsive to verbal stimuli. “Tic-toc, tic-toc” the thin hand out of three seems to drag as my hands moves with precision, controlling the uncontrollable situation. Now stable, the specialist takes him to the operating room. I tag along, trading in my white and black uniform for the heroic blue scrubs and booties. “Beep-beep, beep-beep” hooked onto a ventilator and heart rate monitor, his conscious actions have left him safer in an unconscious state. Confined within a pool of alcohol, he no longer is able to handle the reins of self-control.

into tender eyes that had not yet adjusted to the outside world. Had he not been the car's owner, he might have considered puncturing its tires, but deciding upon a lesser (cheaper) form of objection, he fished around in the breast pocket of his jacket for sunglasses, before entering the street behind it.

“When I was 16, I started using heroin. I had no idea that I would fall in love with such a terrible drug. I loved everything about this drug, it made me feel numb, warm, and fuzzy at all the time. At first, I used it as an escape from my violent memories, but as time went by I used it because I couldn’t function without it. When I wouldn’t use heroin, my body would hurt, I would throw up non-stop, I would be weak, but also in so much pain that I wasn’t able to sleep at night. Over time, I would do anything to get my next supply of heroin. I began panhandling at gas stations, and grocery stores just to get money. When I was high, I had gotten caught stealing from Walmart, and I had to spend five days in jail where I got charged with being

This personal story project was very difficult for me. Every time I wrote a new sentence I would question whether I should keep the topic or not. I would question if this story even told anything significant at all about me. But I realized it really does tell a big portion of my life. This piece is very personal to me in describing who I am and why I am like this as a person. It is mainly about how my fathers and my brothers’ addiction has shaped my life. It is about how their addictions impact my life and my previous (and present) experiences. But in the end, it made me a stronger person. It made me more independent. If I told any other story, my fellow classmates, the audience, would not take anything away from it. To them, I feel as though I would still be the same, quirky Bella. This truly shows another side of me.

wake up in the morning feeling like nick jonas. got my pixi sticks and hair brush this happens everyday. (skipping a little bit) lets punch captain crunch then we'll eat his face for lunch fly a kite drink some sprite, till we go to sleep tonight tik tok found a rock gonna knock this bozers socks off wo there purple wooaaoooaaoooo. thankz 4 reading!

Some see me as a weirdo, wimp, druggie, dumb person and even cool. No one thinks the same

When I was in sixth grade, a guest speaker came to lecture us on the benefits of journaling. As a sixth grader, I thought of this as just another pseudo statement adults say to try to persuade us, such as, “eating broccoli will give you superpowers.” So, didn’t put much action into her suggestion. “Writing something every day?” I speculated. “I’d rather go play!” The following week, my teacher reminded us every day to log in our journals. All of the elation about journaling eventually led me to believe that maybe this was worth a try. (Journaling is different from keeping a diary. Diaries are for logging your daily activities. Journaling involves recording your daily activities along with your correlating emotions; it is much more personal than a diary. I keep a journal.)

Addiction can have very harmful effects, but the truth is that there are people all around us struggling with this every day. After reviewing causes, treatment, and remission of this disease I hope that you now have more information on addiction and its’ effects.