Overcoming Addiction - If I Can Do It, Anyone Can Do It

If I overcame being addicted to alcohol and cigarettes, anyone can. For the better part of 15 years I engaged in both drinking and smoking enough to be considered "addicted". I'm not one to buy into such labels, but if we do become addicted to alcohol and/or cigarettes, then I was surely addicted. I drank and smoked every day for the better part of that entire 15 years. And not just having one or two drinks. I drank at least a twelve pack of beer a day, and smoked at leasta pack of cigarettes a day. I didn't keep a running tally, but those had to be the averages. I always made sure that I had at least eighteen beers in the fridge and a fresh pack of smokes around.

For years I used to ask myself if I had a problem, but would then forget about it and just have a beer. Then something very interesting happened. My wife at the time got pregnant and my daughter was born. Once that happened I knew I had to make some changes. Looking back now, I know that my daughter was sent from God to teach me these things. Once I saw her beautiful face, I knewI had to stop both practices. Sao, that's what I did. I walked away from them. No meetings, gum. pills, or patches. I just stopped, because I wasn't going to be the guy who tells his daughter the dangers of drinking and smoking while he sucks on a beer and lights up a cigarette.

I don't disparage anyone for anything they would like to do, it's all good. It's just that for me, I had to stop. I simply wasn't going to be that guy. My point to this is if I can do it, anyone can do it. I drank and smoked as much as anyone and walked away. I guess the old saying is true, If the why becomes big enough, the how becomes easy. That's exactly what happened to me. My daughter was a big enough why, that the how was easy. I know everyone has a why of some sort, and if not, just get yourself one!