Making Friends with TINA

People are not addicted to alcohol or drugs, they are addicted to escaping reality.

(Anonymous)

When a woman learns that she is pregnant, she may quit her addiction from one day to the next to protect her child. At least that is a story I have come across. Similarly, in Kerry Spackman's 'The Winner's Bible', a woman was told that she might lose custody of her child because of her drug addiction and she went cold turkey from one day to the next; a photo of her son was all the motivation she needed.

Some people have the will-power to beat an addiction, yet the pain of facing reality unfortunately stays. It takes effort to stay awake. It takes will-power not to be sucked in by alcohol, Facebook, the TV, and so many other vehicles of escaping the harshness of life. Adolf Hitler rose to fame by using powerful national symbols to enslave the will of his German followers. They became zombies after they fell under his spell, but they asked for it. Mostly we fall into the trap of escaping reality as we are lulled in, one tempting step after the other. 

Once awakened, we stay awakened. We are also human like everyone else but once we have seen the movie, and once we have been given a powerful motivator to stay in the present, we are just no longer swayed by the forces that want to put us to sleep. Just like the mum who decided that she will fight for her bot no matter what the cost, we now stand up to the snake that wants to lull us in with its melodious voice. 

Everyone has a TINA - There Is No Alternative - moment one day or another. Painful as it can be on occasions, once you have tasted true freedom, you can never go back to the old ways.