Do you know Joanne McNally? (Irish Comedian) who was chatting on her stories recently about the importance of addicts being allowed to be addicts. Well now, she didn’t say those exact words but she was referencing Megan Nolan’s (Irish Author) take on Matthew Perry’s book and how when he wrote it, he was still in active addiction.
Let’s preface this by recognising addiction for what it actually is - not something that only the dreads of society fall victim to or something that’s solely dealt with in AA meetings. Addiction isn’t something that homeless heroin addicts get to keep just for themselves. Every single one of us is in active addiction to something throughout the entirety of our lives. No, it can’t be? It is.
Now no, there won’t be any admissions of a raging cocaine addiction here. Sorry. Telling the difference between cocaine and bread soda would be a challenge. Alas, it’s relevant. It’s all relevant. We don’t like to hear stories from addicts, at least not when they are in addiction. They have nothing to offer us from the depths of their own personal hell. We’re not typically interested in anyone that hasn’t kicked their habit and chose the life of a wellness guru instead. Plot twist, that’s not happening here either. But we’ll get to the active addictions later.
I have many addictions. Writing is one of them. But hey, that can’t be a problem? Surely? Well, when you’re still sitting in the same place 12 hours later having not eaten and drank several cups of coffee whilst simultaneously delaying a trip to the bathroom, it’s kind of a problem then, isn’t it? I mean, everything is subjective.
When it comes to needing advice on how we manage our addictions (yes manage because they are not going anywhere) we are more likely to support and tune into the word of a shiny, well polished individual who’s publishing books, delivering seminars, is fit and healthy and attesting to the “Five ways to Wellness” that WILL set you free. It won’t fucking set you free. In fact, it pushes us deeper into our addictions, self loathing and mental health struggles. Wild, isn’t it? If we’re struggling, we cannot consistently engage in healthy behaviours 100 percentage of the time. It is impossible. So when we try this method, we fail, and we go deeper into blame and shame and deeper into addiction.
Self help is great and all, but it’s absolutely nothing as a standalone. A well intentioned life that consists of reduced levels of anxiety, stress, debilitating depression and addiction is not and never will be attained through running a marathon. Sorry. In fact, running extreme distances on the regular has been shown to be, yes, you’ve guessed it, an active addiction. At least when it’s a standalone solution that we’re leaning on for relief. It’s the same with literally anything else that’s considered “good for us” by the majority of society (AKA the marketing machines). Don’t be fooled. Gym rats are addicts too. A balance and combination of healthy coping strategies has been found to be the solution alongside learning how to not hate ourselves. But again, later.
We never said this was going to be fun now, did we? Who said self reflection was going to make us batter ourselves for the “good” things we do on top of the “bad”? It’s not. Don’t worry. Well, it might at first but look, we’re all in this together.