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The Power of Shame

Shame is such a strong and powerful emotion. It’s the emotion that can drive addiction and at the same time, the one that can stop you from getting help. That was certainly the case for me. The world has come a long way in its attitude towards addiction. The line “hello, my name is X and I am an alcoholic” has almost become a cultural cliche. Whether thats helpful or not is something I will explore another time - but it shows how some addictions have become more socially acceptable to talk about. Yet others remain shrouded in silence. Take sex addiction for example. Sex is a part of every human story, literally none of us would be here without it. It’s often described as one of the most beautiful expressions of love between two people. But still… we don't talk about it. Many of us would happily discuss our relationship with the toilet before we’d ever admit to struggles around sex. When you stop and think about it, that’s absurd. As long as there are topics we can’t talk about, the...
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There is another way!

You have found your way to my first blog post. I'm not sure if it is the right thing to offer congratulations or to extend the hand of sympathy and understanding. I say that because if you are here you are likely to have been directly or indirectly affected by addiction, poor mental health, ADHD, or a combination of all of them. 


I have been, and continue to be affected by all three. Directly. Every day. So if this is the case for you, because you are the person who is struggling with addiction, poor mental health, ADHD, or you are just a concerned friend or relative, please hear that I see you, I feel your pain, your anguish and know that you are not alone! And probably, most importantly, THERE IS ANOTHER WAY!


I am pleased to say that while I am still affected by all of the above, the effects aren't solely negative any more. Because I have found ANOTHER WAY. And I want to share it with you all. Now I do not profess to have found a magic cure, and this OTHER WAY is not unique, but I hope that you find some STRENGTH, HOPE and JOY from what I write. I hope that you find some identification through these posts and maybe even find some inspiration that may help support you, or the ones you love, on their own recovery journey.


Throughout the blog series I aim to give you an ‘all access’ pass to my personal recovery journey, where I will share how I have approached the mountain of addiction, the web of ADHD and the curse of poor mental health. Not because I think I am better than anyone else. Not because I feel I have done something special. But because I remember the moment that I felt hopeless. Completely and utterly without hope. Where I wished that there was another way, but I had no knowledge of or access to ‘it’. Where I truly felt that the world would be a better place without me in it. Where I felt death was absolutely the only alternative and only solution to the place where I was in.


What I can say with 100% conviction is that THERE IS ANOTHER WAY! And now that I am living ‘it’, life gets better every single day. It is like I am seeing the world in colour for the first time. Noticing things that have always been there, but have been out of the reach of my vision. Do not get me wrong, noticing these things brings its own sense of pain, remorse and regret. For the moments lost. The neglected relationships. But through living life ANOTHER WAY I am confident in my ability to make amends and reinvigorate these things in a way that will make them more fantasmagorical than they ever could have been.


So as well as anecdotes, reflections and stories, I will also be sharing the actionable steps that I have taken on my road to recovery. Will they work for all of you reading this? Most probably not! But I sincerely hope that they act as a piece of concrete evidence that THERE IS ANOTHER WAY. And that you too can live a life that is free from active addiction, where mental health is considered as stable as every other aspect of your physical health and ADHD no longer exists as a destructive force in your life.


If you are looking for ANOTHER WAY, either for yourself, or for someone you love, then read on! Join our mailing list and subscribe. Because your life is not doomed! It is not destined to fail! It can be freer from pain and suffering because THERE IS ANOTHER WAY!
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