The daughter of addicted parents wrote to me: I am the grown daughter of two addicts and know first-hand how truly cunning and powerful this disease is. It is a family illness and one with far-reaching and long-lasting implications. Even when the wounds have healed, the scars remain.
My reflection: Addiction affects all of us who love addicts. How does a child of addicted parents make sense of the volatility, the selfishness, the continual crises and trauma? It takes courage. Courage to face the truth about the parents we love. Courage to fight our way out of the chaos. Courage to learn to live with the knowledge of what happened.
Today’s Promise to consider: Addiction leaves scars. Like every battle, deep wounds remain. Today, I will find the courage to learn from the addiction and all the trauma that my family and I suffered. I will protect myself, grow stronger and reach out my hand to help others.
Thank you. I hadn’t really ever considered myself courageous before. Tenacious, persistent, and too stubborn to be crushed by the family disease, but hadn’t ever considered that it took courage to be that way.
My son literally has many physical scars caused by his addiction from accidents etc… When I think of how we protect our children from injury when they are young and grieve every little scar. I have the visable reminder when I look at my son that I cannot protect him from addiction, from his choices.