Once a month the Toronto Coaches from the International Coach Academy a school that I attend, try to get together. Two weeks ago we all met at the Distillery District a great place for us all to meet about 20 of us in total.
This visit was a little different, our school is virtual and although we speak to our instructors everyday we never actually get to meet them. Merci who is a fabulous Coach from New York City was in for a speak and she and her husband met up with us. In a brief conversation in response to her asking “what I do?” (in our world we’re asking what’s our niche?) We had a little bit of a conversation, when out of the blue she turned around to me and said :”you should get into Meth Coaching.” For me it was like the hand of God reaching down and turning on the light switch.
It’s not every day that a Straight Jewish Woman (A Master Coach) would just out of the blue suggest something like that and in accordance to the International Coach Federations Core Competencies people who are addicts are considered uncoachable. I am proof that this is simply not true. What touched me about this statement is that I have 7 years clean from the drug. I used coaching to help get me off. I will speak about this process at a later date.
At the very beginning of me starting to write for Gayguidetoronto.com I approached Shaun Proulx about writing an article about the relationship between meth and purpose. Ok so I know that your wondering, “what does Meth and Purpose in life have to do with one another?”
I have had many non judgmental exploratory conversations with my many friends and acquaintances about their or a close friend’s addiction to Crystal Meth. I have frequently run up against the comment “I have no purpose to quit”. This raises a red flag for me that our community seems to often ignore. Purpose in life. Often these stories are surrounded in much sucess $100 000 / year jobs. Expensive cars and the whole party thing. That always ends in tragedy, despair and further loss of meaning in life.
OK, Ok, so it all comes down to the old chicken or egg puzzle which came first? Addiction or lack of meaning in life? For me addiction was a step in the process of finding meaning. It was a way to fill the void I felt. The existential vacuum that Crystal magically managed to temporarily wipe clean. The long term problem was the the Crystal Meth it’s self destroyed my ability to actually feel any sense of natural joy. I was physically incapable of producing the endorphins that would motivate me to search for my purpose in life.
The struggle of Meth and it’s addiction is not an easy one. Lack of purpose in life is a common problem and in combination they can be devastating. It’s not a problem that one person or organization can correct but rather it’s our whole community that will have to come together.
Are you living your purpose or floating around in an existential vacuum?
