Alcoholism and addiction can lead some to isolate themselves, essentially cutting themselves off from family, friends and supportive relationships all together. At first it may not be of real concern that an addict has chosen the “lone wolf” mentality, but eventually, when the disease progresses, the excitement ends and one realizes that they’ve lost something very important. A term some addicts use is ‘hitting rock bottom’, they see their situation as hopeless and may not attempt to get their life back, instead they plunge further into the disease and dig an even deeper hole to get out of. To many addicts it is all part of the ‘cycle of addiction’, a place many addicts and alcoholics find themselves in, and a place that is hard to break away from.
What began as a wild journey has now evolved into a lonely road of desperation and sorrow. The social aspect of using ends and we are left alone with only the drink and drug to keep us company. This can become a very dark time.
While addiction can result in ‘dark times’ for many addicts, it may also serve as an important tool that the addict can use to end the cycle for good. If someone can look back on their months, or years of addiction, they may see something that they never want to return to. It can be very difficult, even with support from family, friends and support groups to see how they will end up in the future, which is why many support programs insist that one must live in the present. This is helpful advice as it is impossible to know for sure what the future holds for an addict, but with sobriety as a goal an addict will regain the important people who surround them, and with that support it is very likely that anyone could recover and beat the addiction.