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5 Inspirational Addiction Recovery Videos for 2021

5 Inspirational Addiction Recovery Videos

Whether you struggle with addiction yourself and are looking for some inspiration for your recovery, or you care deeply about someone who’s in the midst of their battle, here are five inspirational addiction recovery videos to help renew your energy to persevere in the new year

 

  1. Macklemore on Drug Addiction

I might be able to walk into a room, and you wouldn’t know that I had just smoked a blunt outside, but in terms of my overall joyfulness—If that’s sucked out of you, the people that love you know. And my parents knew. The way that I treated my girl; the lies, the cheating… and it comes back to the selfishness. It comes back to trying to fill a void. I mean, for me, at that time period, women were the same thing as what the drugs were trying to occupy; That escape, that filling a void, and the complete discarding of someone else’s emotions and well-being for your own selfish needs in that moment.”

From his music to his willingness to discuss his past, Macklemore is both incredibly relatable and inspiring. He shares his honest understanding of his journey, from experimentation to addiction, and the ways it deeply affected him and those who love him. Even his music video to the song “Drug Dealer” portrays an honest look at the depths of despair that withdrawal creates. 

 

  1. Everything You Know About Addiction Is Wrong by Johann Hari

A core part of addiction…is about not being able to bear to be present in your life.”

Have you seen this Ted Talk yet? This video has circled the recovery and treatment community, reminding us of the humanity of those who struggle with addiction and the need for community and support to combat the isolation and ancestry of shame inherited by those who struggle with addiction. 

 

  1. Dax Shepard: Rock Bottom Isn’t Always What Makes You Change Your Life

“I’m doing everything I had dreamt of doing for 30 years—it all came true—and I am the least happy I’ve ever been in my life. I’m closest to not wanting to be alive ever as I’ve ever been and I have every single thing on paper that I wanted… I feel grateful for this because I was able to say, something much more profound in me is broken.”

From his podcast to the video linked above, Dax Shepard is no stranger to talking about his experience with AA, his struggle with addiction in the past, and if you follow the news, his recent relapse (and journey with his family to picking up the pieces). What is so valuable about Shepard’s willingness and vulnerability is his normalization of a life in recovery, offering recognition to those also in the community and insight for family members and those who love them. 

 

  1. The Power of Addiction and Addiction to Power by Gabor Matè

“If you want to understand addiction, you can’t look at what’s wrong with the addiction; you have to look at what’s right about it. In other words, what’s the person getting from the addiction? What are they getting that otherwise, they don’t have? What addicts get is relief from pain, what they get is a sense of peace, a sense of control, a sense of calmness, very, very temporarily.

And the question is, why are these qualities missing from their lives, what happened to them?

If you look at drugs like heroin, like morphine, like codeine, if you look at cocaine, if you look at alcohol, these are all painkillers.

In one way or another, they all soothe pain. And that’s why the real question in addiction is not, ‘Why the addiction?’ but, ‘Why the pain?’”

Celebrated Canadian physician Gabor Matè helps us to reframe our understanding of addiction. The answer to “why the addiction” is simple; it’s found where the pain has been inflicted. Armed with the right question, we can begin to help change the narrative of addiction, to remember the lost and exiled sons and daughters who are simply fighting for their survival. Because to think about the damage they’ve caused to self and others would be their undoing, we can understand why they don’t. 

 

  1. Depression and The Secret to Happiness by Johann Hari

“The biggest problem with telling people the story I was told—your depression is in your head— is it tells you that the reason you’re depressed is you’re broken. Actually, you’re very sane if you’re depressed. It’s no sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society. Our pain makes sense. If you’re depressed and anxious, you’re not a machine with broken parts, you’re a human being with unmet needs.”

Johann Hari makes our list twice because of the importance of the messages he’s sharing. This inspirational addiction recovery video gets to the root of the depression and anxiety prevalent in our society by taking a global look at what’s gone wrong. We’ve been encouraged to live in ways that are not compatible with our needs for human connection and belongingness. 

 

Especially last year, when technology became our knight in shining armor, we still need to be cautious about how it can lead to disconnection from others and the natural world. If anything, we’ve learned to embrace our needs this year, and have become even more aware of the importance of connection. 

 

“Being broken up, isolated individuals we just can’t solve these problems. We can take the edge off them with some drugs, but the core of the solution, is when people come together and say this isn’t good enough, we deserve better and we demand better. Problems that seem insoluble begin to be dealt with.”

If you or your loved one haven’t taken the first step towards a new life, we are here to help.

Call us today at 888-898-1751.

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