When someone phones about going to drug rehab, one of my favorite questions is "What do you think you really need to change to move past drugs and alcohol permanently in your life?" What is interesting as to how often the conversation will drift to the same area. Sooner or later the idea will come up that the client has to learn, "How to cope with life". Somewhere along the line drugs or alcohol became the way to deal with things they could not quite handle. It becam the cure and giant band-aid for their life.
The task of educators in our society has grown more and more difficult. I am not hear to add to their already large task by heaping more things on them. I am saying though, an awful lot of the people who end up in drug and alcohol rehab just do not have the life skills they require. Somewhere real life skills and stress management has to be taught. If we don't deal and handle stess in our lives we pay for it in heart attacks, illness and ADDICTION. Just like so many other things in life it really is ,"PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER… BUT YOU WILL PAY ME!" If we do not spend the money helping people learn how to cope with life, we can all spend money cleaning up the mess that is left behind. Watch the news for a couple of minutes and it is pretty obvious Britney Spears has neither the skills or tools to effectively manage her life or her emotions. She uses drugs to cope, like millions of other Americans.&nbs! p; We just have to start to teach this stuff…… to everyone.
