A raw and honest poetic look at the hidden addictions we all carry – beyond substances and into social media, consumerism, body modification, and the longing we feel from spiritual separation. A mirror for anyone brave enough to look.

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“We’re All Addicts”

by Shelly Moore Caron

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Whether it’s chemicals fed through a needle’s tip,

or food and drink until we’re heavy and sick.

Prescription pills or plant medicine-

we overindulge to dull pain again and again.

Coffee, sugar, cigarettes, caffeine…

retail therapy, “Buy Now” – you know what I mean.

Your drug of choice could be sexual touch,

lifting, cycling, or running too much.

Maybe you’re hooked on the victim role’s pity,

or creating chaos just to play hero in your city.

Perhaps your fix is cosmetic surgery,

or your hypodermic needle is a tattoo gun’s ink.

Some get high on social media likes,

slipping from reality – forgetting real life.

Maybe it’s time we reframe how we think:

addiction isn’t reserved for the frail or the weak.

We all crave something to help fill the hole

carved by illusion – separation from the Whole.

We call it escapism. We call it disease.

Anything to soothe our overwhelming unease.

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