I know everyone is probably tired of hearing about Lindsay Lohan. But I have to add in my two cents anyway. Am I angry at her for being so irresponsible, for seemingly having the world by the you know what and then spitting on it? You bet I am! Am I upset that this young woman could have killed someone on the road and ruined so many lives, not just her own? Completely. It makes me sick and baffled to a degree how anyone young and talented could behave this way. However, there is a part of me that understands and is able to have empathy for her. I have personal experience on dealing with family members with addiction and what I can tell you about it is that it causes someone to lose all sense of anyone else but themself. It is a truly eggocentric disease in that the addict is all about, “me, me, me.” The scary thing is they are so wrapped up in their addiction that they can’t even get outside of it to see that. When using and abusing the addict typically becomes someone we don’t like or even really know. In my family situation the person who I will refer to in this blog is a truly loving, sweet, kind, smart and generous person but when she was using she was selfish, unreasonable, destructive and unrecognizable. And, the only way as a family for us to get her well was to let her hit rock bottom completely. Before we did, she’d seen rehab after rehab, lost custody of her kids, went to jail, therapy, and on and on. But the day we all decided enough was enough was when she decided to get well. I love this person with all of my heart and I am proud to say she is now sober for five years. She is my sister and I know that she would be okay with me telling you this. It was when her family stopped enabling her and I drove her down to what is called 10 day here in San Diego where many homeless go to dry-out that she started on the road to recovery. Now she helps others in the recovery process, has a wonderful job, and has been able to repair her relationships with her children and others.

My point is do we feel disgust when we hear Lindsay’s story? Yes. But she is truly ill and I am sure that underneath it all there is a scared, sweet young woman who will someday look back and realize how foolish she was by throwing her youth away. Hopefully, she realizes this before it’s too late for her or anyone in her way. Hopefully, her parents, family and friends also realize this and can help her by stopping the process of enabling her. It’s time Miss Lohan received some serious tough love so she can actually wind up having a life.