“If you are lucky enough to not understand addiction, then good for you. I hope you never have to. I hope you never see someone you love disappear before your eyes, while standing right in front of you. I hope you never have to lie awake all night praying the phone doesn’t ring, yet hoping it does at the same time. I hope you never know the feeling of doing everything you thought was right and still watch everything go wrong. I hope you never have to grieve the loss of someone who is still alive.

I hope you never love an addict.

I hope you never know what it means to live afraid of yourself. To never trust yourself. To fight a raging war inside your own mind ever single moment of every single day. To feel unwanted and unworthy. To live ashamed, condemned, and with suffocating guilt…