Some have lost a husband or wife to overdose. Others have lost a sibling or other family member. Maybe a marriage or love affair broke up because the partner didn't want to be with an addict. Perhaps the family no longer wants anything to do with them because they seem hopeless.
The scenario varies, but the feelings are like a raw, open wound. One that festers and takes a long time to heal - if it ever does.
In the daylight of sobriety these losses can become starkly real. So real that addicts often are leery of becoming close to anyone because the pain of loss is still an open wound. A wound that they no longer want to treat with alcohol or drugs.
Yet if we're to thrive in recovery we must accept loss - and the accompanying pain - as being part of life.
Even though it seems lofty and abstract, one way to do this is to realize that that all of life is temporary. That everything we treasure will one day be gone.
While this may sound gloomy, the lesson here is seize the moment and live our lives to the fullest.
That's probably what those we've lost would want us to do.
