after a few days in rehab in October 2023 something clicked for me and I looked around the room and realized that every single person in that room was very intelligent. Often with intelligence and creativity comes frustration and depression and manifest in different ways for different people but for the people in the room with me, it’s manifested itself in self abuse. We’ve all seen our favorite performers and actors collapse, emotionally and in many cases, die from there defects. There’s no better example than this on my mind at this moment than Matthew Perry, who struggled unimaginably with his addictions. I’m lucky that I was never somebody who was interested in hard drugs, especially opiates, or crack , but these are truly brutal and nearly impossible for most people to shake on a permanent basis. Matthew Perry recently died, and I read his book in the very week during which he passed away. Again, as I’ve mentioned, in other posts on this blog, we all have the same problem, but it manifest differently for everyone who is an alcoholic erratic. in his case, the manifestation of his disease was in opiates and benzos like Xanax. Truly awful! I felt so badly for the guy while reading his book while I didn’t like him very much as a person but that’s beside the point. The brain altering nature of the drugs he was taking , our long lasting, and in many cases last through the duration of one’s life which further reinforces the importance of continuation of therapy, having a support network, and being around people that do not use or drink. I decided in rehab that I should block and delete the phone numbers of most of the people with Who Am I? associated and called “friends.” Sure they were friends but enabling friends often struggled with the same problems that I have, but hadn’t had the opportunity to be shocked into resolving those problems. Get help and stick with it. Put your pride aside, be humbled and contrite, and you will have a much greater chance of success in your recovery.