“Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.” –Nikos Kazantzakis
Public Relations (PR) Spinners are always at work. The stigma of addiction and alcoholism rears its head on nearly a daily basis in the media. An actor is arrested for DUI and the Spin Doctors go to work immediately. The reports start to emerge that Actor X has been affected by sleep deprivation due to his recent shoot of his blockbuster film. Being prescribed a sleep aid that he has become dependent upon is the underlying cause of the problem. A small glass of wine at dinner caused the DUI! The stories are never ending and the spin just reinforces the stigma. Sure, I get it, keeping a positive image for a public figure or person that needs a clean image in order to make their living is understandable. But, media reports tend to buy into the Spin. The truth is we all have our story and we usually believe it while we are in the “Pre-Contemplation” stage.
The true reason for this post has nothing to do with actors and their “Spin Doctors”, it has to do with the every day or average Joe or Mary! The stories we tell ourselves. These stories create a “Victim” mentality in us, and then treatment providers promulgate this message in their “marketing”, you know the type, “This is not a Twelve Step Program, this works, and I know because I was an addict and now I’m not! Often in treatment programs clinicians utilize language that seems to point towards this victim mentality, but that is the message we hear and not necessarily the message offered. We all need to make sense of this so we fit our story to match the malady. “I’m depressed, therefore I drink to relieve my depression”, there are a million stories we tell ourselves, trauma, depression, anxiety…
When we finally come to terms with our addiction and we begin to fully recover the “Why” becomes insignificant. Those that continue the story continue living the life of a victim. We are not victims, we are victorious!
Life is Gooooood!
Go, Go, Go…
Dan 🙂