Throughout childhood, you are meant to look at your siblings with admiration and adoration; they are your role models. However, when they are met with addiction, it’s as if the entire world changes. My older brother is an alcoholic, and he has lost so many relationships, with women and family, including me. I have not talked to my brother in a long time, and while that decision was hard for me to make, it was a better decision than associating myself with him. Motorcycle riding runs in my family; My brother loves to ride, but when you get into so many accidents due to being intoxicated, which do you like more: drinking or riding? He’s broken his neck, his heels, tore his femoral artery, and while he has fortunately survived every single time, his relationship with me and my family has died over time in return. Addiction is a disease: it’s not something you can just stop doing, but it is something you can prevent. I wish my brother knew this before he started to drink.
Even though I don’t talk to my brother anymore, addiction is something that lingers. My mother fell in love with a man who is also addicted to drinking alcohol. He has been sectioned, run away from hospitals, and has even gone into an alcohol induced coma. Mental health is something that affects him as well, and that is why he drinks. My mother is still with him after everything he has gone through; no matter what, she has tried to get him help with his mental health and addiction. That is love to me. Through trials and tribulations, they are still thriving together, and now her boyfriend is almost 5 months sober. He lost his job a while ago, but now he is back doing what he aspires to do: work EMS and help others. Sometimes I didn’t like how he was—I thought that he was just refusing to get help—but he had delirium due to everything going on. Then I realized that we are very similar. I had a psychotic episode towards the end of 2023 because I have Bipolar I with mania. I felt for him. I didn’t fully understand what he was going through, but I could feel for him. Empathy is something so strong; I would try to give him advice and talk to him about what was going on, even if he didn’t remember it. He is someone I look up to. He’s been drinking since he was about 12 or 13, and now he is turning 29 this year. You can become addicted for such a long period of time, but when you have such a big support system and acknowledge that there is something going on, things can begin to change.
In regard to future studies, I want to major in Criminal Justice with a minor in Forensic Science. I want to be able to help others in every way possible and eventually work for my state’s commonwealth. Soon, I will be in a 911 Dispatcher program that is affiliated with my school, and will be able to get a job in that field after high school. I want to be able to help others just like my mom helped her boyfriend with addiction, just like he does when he goes to work, and just like my brother did with me growing up. Addiction can change the path of peoples’ lives so fast, and it can create rifts between people. I just hope that people fighting addiction, whether it be drugs or alcohol, have someone or something out there who can help them too.