Epilogue: Choose Your Direction
by Stacy Foley
If you’ve been following along with the story about Med Mike you see that it came to a very tragic end. Please don’t kid yourself. Anyone who makes alcohol and drug use a part of their life, and does so for any length of time, comes to a tragic end. You may not end up in prison, you may not lose your job and you may not cause the loss of life, but trust me their life is tragic.
Alcohol and drugs leave behind a path of destruction — Loss of relationships, loss of self esteem, loss of opportunities, loss of physical health, loss of respect, loss of trust and the list goes on and on.
It’s not unlike a river. As I understand where rivers start they flow swiftly, and the current is so strong that boulders can actually be rolled along the river bed due to the force of the water.
- This is just like a young person whose life is flowing along. It is much easier to not let the boulder of drugs/alcohol ever be put into your life, than it is to get it out of your life once you allow it to be the natural flow. Think of how hard it would be to remove a boulder from a rushing river.
As I also understand, as the river flows these boulders and sediment erode the boundaries of the river.
- This is much like people and substance abuse. The first time someone drinks or uses drugs there is a big sense of guilt and shame. We all know deep down that it’s a bad choice. The more we participate in these activities the more our resistance erodes.
The big boulders break down into smaller pieces through erosion and soon permeate the water and line the river bed.
- Likewise, drugs and alcohol begin to permeate every area of our lives affecting who we are.
As the sediment and pieces of rocks are transported down, the river usually slows and widens. Deposits of the sediment begin to change the flow of the river and can even change the course (direction) of the river.
- Same with drugs/alcohol — the more these treacherous substances flow into lives, the more the person changes. It separates and divides parts of their lives and takes them on a different tangent than previously lived.
Before the river ends, flowing into the ocean it sometimes totally erodes the river bed, becoming a flood plane. The river swings in great S-shaped curves, forming loops called meanders.
- Not unlike the lower course of some rivers, people who make drugs and alcohol a part of their lives lose direction. The flow of their life is so distorted that a clear course cannot be found. Their lives are out of control and many times leads to a tragic end.
Med Mike’s life could have taken a different course. The really sad thing is that all of these devastations could have been avoided. Anywhere along your life’s passage you can change courses. You can choose a different path.
Stacy Foley is Administrative Assistant for DrugFree Greenville