Are you enjoying to any degree the pleasures of your substance use? Your ready moment for healing does not need to be built on the rocks at the bottom.

A few days ago, I had a conversation with a man who was heading to detox.  His story was not typical of those you normally hear.  This man had a job.  He was paying his own bills.  He bought his own groceries.  His substance use was an issue but it was not causing any significant problems in his life. 

His family was going through some major issues, not the slightest bit related to this man's substance use.  Multiple deaths by unrelated various natural causes in his family within a very short time led to a staggering level of pain and confusion as to how to handle all of the new dynamics within his family. 

This man told me that he loved the feeling that his substances were giving him.  He emphasized how these substances were not causing any significant problems in HIS world… 

BUT… 

He knew that his family needed him to be there for them and be there 100% with his physical, spiritual, and intellectual presence and abilities.  This is where his substances were getting in the way.  He realized that he could not consume his substances AND be fully present to his family. 

From his perspective and within his desire to keep experiencing the pleasures of his substances, he made a self-sacrificial decision and chose to focus on the needs of his family.  He did what he knew he needed to do to be fully present with them.  He put aside his own pleasures of his substances and entered detox and then rehab. 

This man did not wait to hit that supposedly required moment of "rock bottom."  Rather than looking down and waiting to find the rocks or for the rocks to find him, he looked up to the needs of his loved ones and climbed the hill of healing so as to regain his full presence with them. 

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Are you enjoying to any degree the pleasures of your substance use?  

Do you have a family longing for your 100% presence with them?  Are your closest loved ones getting up in years?  Do you have children who don't know you as a fully present parent?  Do you have an educational degree waiting to be used again? 

Any of these reasons and so many more for not waiting for rock bottom to find you are reasons to climb that hill of healing. 

Your ready moment for healing does not need to be built on the rocks at the bottom.