LOVE vs ADDICTION

Addiction. Who doesn’t love a good addiction? You try something. You like it. You try it again. You build a little ritual around it, make it a special part of your day. You tell time by it. “Must be noon, cause I’m jonesing for another cup of my special English tea!” or “I know it’s morning cause I’m awake and ready for a hit of crystal meth!”

DON’T DO METH, KIDS.

Scenario #1: The recently broken-up couple

See, here’s the thing: anything can be addictive. And it’s not always easy to spot when something slips down that slippery slope from experiment to habit to addiction. Derek and Meredith thought they’d ended it. Cold turkey. White knuckle. Over. So over. Well, it wasn’t totally over. There was a bit of a hang-over. A little no-strings-attached sex. Just for old times sake. No harm, no foul. But the thing is, there is harm. Derek doesn’t like it. He wants to talk. He wants to sleep over. He wants lunch, with the woman he loved, or loves, or has some impossible to define love related interaction with. He’s settling for just the sex, cause that’s all she’s willing to indulge. But that’s only hurting him. It’s just enough of the drug to keep him hooked. Never enough to satisfy him, only enough to make him want more. And he knows. He knows he’s got a problem, but he can’t walk away.

Love. It’s like crystal meth.

DON’T DO METH.

Scenario #2: The impending breakup

Even Callie’s strung out. Callie, who always seemed stronger than the rest of them. More together. Less at the mercy of her emotions. Sure, George’s on-again, off-again interest, his loosey goosey commitment made her kind of nuts, but she always seemed like she was handling it. Now she’s walking around the hospital like a crazy person. Falling down on the job, which she NEVER does. Unable to concentrate on anything other than the sneaking suspicion that her husband’s having an affair. She knows it, in her heart she can’t deny it. But she can’t face it either. She’s in a marriage that’s destroying her, and her husband’s about to come clean and maybe put them both out of their misery, but she can’t let him do it. She can’t let him say it. She’d rather be a strung out junkie than deal with the pain of withdrawal.

That’s a pretty serious drug.

BUT NOT AS SERIOUS AS CRYSTAL METH, WHICH YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T DO.

So don’t get into relationships with people who can’t handle them. Don’t you just want to shake Derek and Callie? Don’t you want to shake them and say, “These people keep telling you they can’t give you what you want – believe them!” But shaking them wouldn’t help. Because they’re addicted. They can’t walk away even when they want to.

Sad, isn’t it? -30-

The Untold Fairytale

Once upon a time, in the not-so-distant past, there lived a young, naïve girl without a care in the world. Armed with nothing but a pinch of hope and an ounce of self-esteem, she bravely entered the kingdom of UPLB. This was a realm where freedom reigned supreme. Liberalism, autonomy and non-conformity is encouraged whilst conventionality, compromised submission and orthodoxy is blatantly dissuaded. The people are pushed to speak up their minds and fight for their rights (if need be). So, on she persevered to prove herself worthy of the title bestowed upon her by the sovereign people of the democracy. She indeed became a bonafide Iska making her way up to earn the much-coveted BS Chemical Engineering diploma to bring home to her doting father back in the outskirts of Bicolandia.

But alas! Unsuspectingly, fate intervened. God has other plans for her. Certain circumstances in her life then, dictated that she give up her senior year for "sustenance"; and forced her to succumb to her socio-economic duties. Her family needed her. Refusing to play the damsel-in-distress parody (eagerly awaiting for her Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet); she stubbornly took the helm, wore the knight-in-shining-armor insignia, and came to their rescue.

But even before her world turned upside down, she innocently gave her heart away to her very first love...a passion that has driven her through the 5 excruciating years of mathematical formulas and chemical experiments... a dip into a surreal world that stripped away all her inhibitions and unraveled layers and layers of masked pretenses. An unfathomable, overwhelming love that drew her to the brink of self-destruction…consuming her very soul. The art. The love. The fervor for DANCE.

Dancing has set her free. Unwanted thoughts eluded her when confined in her element. It gives her the feeling of limitless possibilities. On stage…basking in the glory of a well-performed, adrenaline-induced, artistic repertoire…she had soared. She had flown. She had lived. Or so she thought…

This passion, though, has proven to be agonizingly futile. Dancing, as a profession was…well… frowned upon. It was considered to be among the lowly ranks of being a jester or the clown in the royal courts. Thus, throwing her into the arms of a monotonously white-collared but financially well-off second love...her job. Her career drove her to new heights she never imagined. It delivered as promised… It placed food on the table, didn’t it? ‘Twas her family’s saving grace. And she was able to procure assets she could only dream of. Investment after investment she ventured on. Piece by piece, parcel by parcel, possession by possession… on and on, she went through the process of acquisition. She labored for years on end, thinking that this would be enough. She soared. She flew. She lived. Or so she thought…

In the end, gratifying her self-absorbed delusions of grandeur wasn’t, isn’t and will never be the answer she was desperately looking for. She was only fooling herself into thinking that financial security and stability can fill the void in her life. Just as dance wasn’t able to define her as person, she found out not a little too soon, that her career wasn’t “ALL THAT” as well.

And like any other respected lady in the House of Singlehood, she wasn’t spared from heartaches and heartbreaks. Though donning the steel armor of faith, she had an Achilles’ heel as well. Her HEART proved to be her downfall. She had recklessly given bits and pieces of her heart to undeserving men-of-honor. Countless times, her heart soared. Flew. And lived. Or so she thought…

The enemy, being the devious thief in the night, was always ready to pounce on her especially when she puts her guard down. Lies, dishonesty, and deception were sugar-coated in promises of perpetual happiness, pledges of eternal commitment and thoughts of forever. But that’s just about it. Mere promises…empty… temporary…devoid of any lasting assurance.

In the years that ensued, being incorrigibly stubborn, she only served one “god”…her own sweet self. She engorged herself in things, activities, passions that served the glorious reign of her one great love. She was, in essence, a self-serving, self-edifying, self-centered, ego-maniacal, selfish brat. She was altogether lonely…altogether empty… altogether LOST.

Finally, that girl who dreamt but was dejected, who soared high but ungraciously fell down, who flew to unreachable heights but was taken down my circumstance, who lived unsparingly only to die again. That girl finally found salvation. She finally found the answer to her unending quest. An eternal promise that can never be broken. A love never-ending that has, is and will transcend time and space like no other love ever known to man. She finally found her happy-ever-after… in Jesus Christ her one true God, Lord, Savior and Redeemer!

Finally found. Finally saved. Finally contented and happy. That girl was ME.

From Glory to Glory I was changed.

From Glory to Glory I was renewed.

From Glory to Glory I now live.

To GOD be the Glory!

~THE END~

Note to self:

Well, the end is naught. DANCE is my first love. And first loves never die, or so goes the cliché.