This is raw and unflinching, and it needs to be read. Addiction doesn’t just affect the person using it reshapes everyone around them. I see the clarity here, the boundary-setting, the love that knows when to let go. Thank you for naming the truth of survival logic misfired; it’s medicine for anyone trying to understand or escape that orbit.✨
I greed that it is difficult to tell someone one loves/once loved the hard truth.
And, it is even more challenging to walk away. But is it is a way for the person walking away to refuse to continued to be used as the fix.
I hesitated on using the word "parasite" at first. But decided to go ahead with it because (although a noun) it describes the natural consequence of using people as the sedative, the stimulant, the fix.
Thank you for your words, Dr. Domo. I receive them with care. I didn’t write this to shock...I wrote it to metabolize rupture into repair. To take shame off the table and put reflection in its place. If it cut you open, I hope it did so gently, without spectacle. The goal was never exposure for its own sake, but clarity. A place where people can examine the pieces without fear, without judgment. I sense you found utility in it, but I won’t assume. I only hope it offered a scaffold for something truer. Something that holds
I'm going to add it to my pg ....as an under ADHD I do misfire the hop because some used to call it attention deficit disorder ... It's why breath and Peace are needed quite often...the Pause...the Z ...
Wow, this piece is both resonant and deeply insightful. Reading it felt like finding quiet answers to questions I had been carrying silently. It serves as a powerful reminder of truths we so easily set aside. In love, walking away can feel like the undoing of everything that ever was, yet it is not an ending. It is the space in which something new is given the chance to blossom. And your poem, every line carried weight and spoke to me with such depth. This is a beautiful work, and I truly congratulate you.
You made me blush, Imi. I'm humbled by your kind words. Thank you.
Your comment, "It is the space in which something new is given the chance to blossom," is true for both the addict and the person dealing with said addict. At the most basic level it reveals how much time one was invested on that person. And, with all the extra time, so many great things can happen.
Walking away is difficult, but if you're the one gave and is walking away from the emotional and time suck, it can be such a relief.
I haven’t had the time to read Elizabeth Gilbert’s newest book detailing her relationship with her partner, also an addict, who made the decision to dive back into their drug use under the misguided notion that they’re dying anyway so what’s left to lose… I’ve listened to a couple of interviews where Gilbert begins to narrate the relationship with addiction & addicts, love, sex, drugs. It ain’t all rock & roll. Life with an addict, whether first person or someone known to you, is NEVER lived only on the outside looking in. The complicated nature of loving & letting go. It is messy, ugly, painful and beautiful, hard, very hard the letting go, holding on until the tenuous grip releases.
• Shadow: The endless reaching outside the self to fill the void within. A cycle of craving, grasping, and collapse. It binds the will, convincing the seeker that the next fix — whether money, love, control, or escape — will resolve the emptiness.
• Light: Addiction reveals the hunger for wholeness. In its alchemy, it teaches that no external object, status, or shortcut can substitute for direct connection to source. Once integrated, the same intensity that once enslaved can become devotion, discipline, and focus.
• Lesson: What you are addicted to is the mirror of what you believe you lack. The archetype demands you face the void directly, without substitutes.
This is one of the most precise dissections of addiction I’ve seen, not just the chemical, but the relational. The way you frame it as “survival logic misfired” hits so hard, because it explains both the chaos and the tragedy: people chasing connection with machinery built to collapse.
What I value most here is that you didn’t write it to condemn. You laid bare the brutality, the manipulation, the performance, the hunger that never fills, but then you turned it back toward repair. That is rare.
Addiction is so often framed as weakness, or as individual moral failing, but you’ve shown it as architecture: bricks of trauma, abandonment, unmet needs. And you remind us that sometimes the most radical act of love is distance. That’s a truth people don’t want to face, but one they need.
Thank you for putting this out there. It’s the kind of writing that leaves a mark on everyone who touches it, whether they’ve lived through it directly or not.
I’m grateful you caught the architecture. This piece wasn’t written to diagnose...it was built to expose the scaffolding. I approach this kind of writing the same way I approach policy analysis or coalition strategy: strip sentimentality, thread rigor, and let the structure speak. Sometimes it lands. Sometimes it fractures.
I sat with this one longer than most because the subject demands it. Addiction isn’t spectacle; it’s infrastructure. Misfired survival logic, yes, but also relational collapse, emotional prosthetics, and machinery built to fail. In my business or policy space I would even dare to describe it as a solution that does not result in the desired objective.
You’re right: I’m more fluent in syntax and strategic design than in the rawness of the topic itself. But I wrote this to render shame into architecture. To offer a frame where reflection isn’t punished. Where people can examine the system without fear, and maybe (just maybe) begin to redesign it.
I share your hope that the piece holds utility, whether someone’s lived through it directly or stood beside it. And I hope your reflections reach the end-users too. Thank you for seeing the system inside the wound.
Edwin, this is stunning in itself. I love how you frame addiction as infrastructure rather than spectacle, that line will stay with me. Thank you for bringing that kind of clarity and care into the conversation. 🫶
This is raw and unflinching, and it needs to be read. Addiction doesn’t just affect the person using it reshapes everyone around them. I see the clarity here, the boundary-setting, the love that knows when to let go. Thank you for naming the truth of survival logic misfired; it’s medicine for anyone trying to understand or escape that orbit.✨
You made me think of something from a different angle.if..
Walking away is the best you can do.
It's the biggest denistattion of love.
Thank you!
You became a parasite…. This is exactly what it is and it’s had to get rid of those. Raw and real. Thank you for writing this
Thank you, Zoe.
I greed that it is difficult to tell someone one loves/once loved the hard truth.
And, it is even more challenging to walk away. But is it is a way for the person walking away to refuse to continued to be used as the fix.
I hesitated on using the word "parasite" at first. But decided to go ahead with it because (although a noun) it describes the natural consequence of using people as the sedative, the stimulant, the fix.
This cut me open and put the pieces on the table.
Thank you for your words, Dr. Domo. I receive them with care. I didn’t write this to shock...I wrote it to metabolize rupture into repair. To take shame off the table and put reflection in its place. If it cut you open, I hope it did so gently, without spectacle. The goal was never exposure for its own sake, but clarity. A place where people can examine the pieces without fear, without judgment. I sense you found utility in it, but I won’t assume. I only hope it offered a scaffold for something truer. Something that holds
This is amazing ty..
I'm going to add it to my pg ....as an under ADHD I do misfire the hop because some used to call it attention deficit disorder ... It's why breath and Peace are needed quite often...the Pause...the Z ...
Ty again I'm grateful
Wow, this piece is both resonant and deeply insightful. Reading it felt like finding quiet answers to questions I had been carrying silently. It serves as a powerful reminder of truths we so easily set aside. In love, walking away can feel like the undoing of everything that ever was, yet it is not an ending. It is the space in which something new is given the chance to blossom. And your poem, every line carried weight and spoke to me with such depth. This is a beautiful work, and I truly congratulate you.
どうもありがとうございます !
(Dōmo arigatōgozaimasu)
You made me blush, Imi. I'm humbled by your kind words. Thank you.
Your comment, "It is the space in which something new is given the chance to blossom," is true for both the addict and the person dealing with said addict. At the most basic level it reveals how much time one was invested on that person. And, with all the extra time, so many great things can happen.
Walking away is difficult, but if you're the one gave and is walking away from the emotional and time suck, it can be such a relief.
I haven’t had the time to read Elizabeth Gilbert’s newest book detailing her relationship with her partner, also an addict, who made the decision to dive back into their drug use under the misguided notion that they’re dying anyway so what’s left to lose… I’ve listened to a couple of interviews where Gilbert begins to narrate the relationship with addiction & addicts, love, sex, drugs. It ain’t all rock & roll. Life with an addict, whether first person or someone known to you, is NEVER lived only on the outside looking in. The complicated nature of loving & letting go. It is messy, ugly, painful and beautiful, hard, very hard the letting go, holding on until the tenuous grip releases.
I do want take the time to read Gilbert's book. From what I've heard it's a fascinating read.
And yes, it's NOT rock and roll...
Addiction Archetype
• Shadow: The endless reaching outside the self to fill the void within. A cycle of craving, grasping, and collapse. It binds the will, convincing the seeker that the next fix — whether money, love, control, or escape — will resolve the emptiness.
• Light: Addiction reveals the hunger for wholeness. In its alchemy, it teaches that no external object, status, or shortcut can substitute for direct connection to source. Once integrated, the same intensity that once enslaved can become devotion, discipline, and focus.
• Lesson: What you are addicted to is the mirror of what you believe you lack. The archetype demands you face the void directly, without substitutes.
That's so evidence-based spot on, Zahra...
The addict's behavior is a direct reaction of their seeking what they feel they lack. Ergo the emptiness
Thanks so much
Thank you, this touched me deeply. You made me realize a truth about my past that was very necessary.
Thank you for sharing your reflections.
A fantastic piece 👏 still need to digest some but definitely made me reflect on my own personal experience
Thanks so much for checking out the read
Im guilty of not commenting enough on your work and being a lazy voyeur haha but love your work
This is one of the most precise dissections of addiction I’ve seen, not just the chemical, but the relational. The way you frame it as “survival logic misfired” hits so hard, because it explains both the chaos and the tragedy: people chasing connection with machinery built to collapse.
What I value most here is that you didn’t write it to condemn. You laid bare the brutality, the manipulation, the performance, the hunger that never fills, but then you turned it back toward repair. That is rare.
Addiction is so often framed as weakness, or as individual moral failing, but you’ve shown it as architecture: bricks of trauma, abandonment, unmet needs. And you remind us that sometimes the most radical act of love is distance. That’s a truth people don’t want to face, but one they need.
Thank you for putting this out there. It’s the kind of writing that leaves a mark on everyone who touches it, whether they’ve lived through it directly or not.
I’m grateful you caught the architecture. This piece wasn’t written to diagnose...it was built to expose the scaffolding. I approach this kind of writing the same way I approach policy analysis or coalition strategy: strip sentimentality, thread rigor, and let the structure speak. Sometimes it lands. Sometimes it fractures.
I sat with this one longer than most because the subject demands it. Addiction isn’t spectacle; it’s infrastructure. Misfired survival logic, yes, but also relational collapse, emotional prosthetics, and machinery built to fail. In my business or policy space I would even dare to describe it as a solution that does not result in the desired objective.
You’re right: I’m more fluent in syntax and strategic design than in the rawness of the topic itself. But I wrote this to render shame into architecture. To offer a frame where reflection isn’t punished. Where people can examine the system without fear, and maybe (just maybe) begin to redesign it.
I share your hope that the piece holds utility, whether someone’s lived through it directly or stood beside it. And I hope your reflections reach the end-users too. Thank you for seeing the system inside the wound.
Edwin, this is stunning in itself. I love how you frame addiction as infrastructure rather than spectacle, that line will stay with me. Thank you for bringing that kind of clarity and care into the conversation. 🫶
Yeah this hit the notes it was supposed to🗣️✍🏾
Edwin, this is exactly what I needed to read right now. I just broke from my own addiction going through withdrawals and he's on to his next fix.
🖤
I loved you once.
Perhaps.
But now I feel nothing.
I’ve reached the bottom
while you chase the next reward.
I recently wrote a poem called Love is A Drug... https://substack.com/@cynposner/note/p-173144933
I'm glad you found utility on the piece.
I actually read your poem about a day ago. I thought it was brilliant.
Powerful piece. Thank you
Thank you, Marie
You’re welcome
Beautiful🫶🏻