Coached By The Devil: The Opiate Craving

Dear Student,

I offer you a craving. Something intense is going to happen inside your mind that will cause you to crave my colleague Opiate. The thought, at first, will start small and far away, but then slowly, yet quickly, it will travel down into the details of your past memories of Opiate use. Isn’t it interesting how time automatically slows down when these cravings happen? Now you start looking at the clock, and if you have any sort of appointment, meeting, family event, or anything where you must be social, then you want Opiate to help make whatever it is that’s coming up to be better, more fun, and more enjoyable. Now you are calling to get Opiate because, in your mind, you have already seen yourself at that social gathering being lifted on him. Going without him makes you hurt inside and doesn’t even seem possible. If it’s a work meeting, then you feel as if you cannot even step in the door without Opiate in your system. And this now goes for everything. The Opiate fix has to happen because it doesn’t seem realistic for it not to happen anymore. Therefore, you make aggressive phone calls in an effort to capture what you feel must happen.

Aggressive actions also take place, such as stealing, manipulating, and searching. If you do make the call, and the score is going to happen, but for whatever reason, you have to wait a few hours to pick up, well, this hurts even more. Remember, time has now slowed down since the craving occurred. And anyway, the social gathering is in an hour, so two hours is not acceptable, so you’ll just have to show up late or even miss your meeting, which obviously means excuses and lying are now a must.

I guess you still have the option of making a phone call, going on a hike, going to an AA meeting, or even participating in prayer and scripture study, though you must be courageous enough to go and participate in such experiences even when you don’t feel like it. Do you have this sort of courage at this very moment, Student? Most times, you have failed, but other times you have succeeded. What’s it going to be this time? Every time you have had the courage to go and create an experience that involves scenery, an elevated heart rate, and praying to God, you have beat my cravings 100 percent of the time. However, you have failed in the past when you decided not to compete against me by instead choosing the easy reward over the hard reward. Need I remind you that my rewards are easy and fast—but do not last. Yet God’s rewards are hard and slow—but inexhaustible.

But you seem to like the chase and runaround, don’t you? The process and chaos of it all are attractive in some weird way, right? You know that it’s wrong and where it will lead you, but for some odd reason, you are attracted to the chaos and pain of it all.

Keep in the front of your mind how glorious it would be to have Opiate in your system and pocket. Such thoughts are then linked to past memories of having them in your system and pocket. And on and on this fairy tale will go, my friend. Don’t try and fight it by replacing it with some sort of health system. Health isn’t my friend. After all, why would I want you feeling better about yourself? Why would I want you progressing and moving upwards in life? Just relax and stay on pause. There is absolutely no reason at all for you to do anything with your life.

Your Fake Friend,

The Devil