I don't share the stories from my past heroin addiction because I want validation for how far I have come. I don't want a pat on the back, and I do not want to be told that I am amazing or that I am lucky. Im not the kind of person who wants attention, in fact im very introverted. The reason im now sharing my story is because so many people are dying from fatally strong drugs. Many families are losing loved ones; parents losing children, siblings losing their brothers and sisters. The truth is that although I have come a long way from where I once was, I can honestly say that there is nothing special about me. The reason that I do share my past is to show others that our personalities, the way we feel, the things we do, even the way in which we think, can all change to be anything that we would like. The truth is that I was not a depressed person, I was feeling depressed. I was not an anxious person, I was feeling anxious. I was not an angry person, I was feeling angry. And I was not an addict, I was struggling with addiction. We all possess the ability to change. This is not philosophy, but science. Our brains are constantly changing, in fact the neurons in your brain are firing in new and lasting ways just as you read this. We are always changing; our world is always changing. The problem is that mentally, we continue to live in the past. We are always reliving old memories, basing our feelings and our current state off past circumstances. When we accept that we are always changing we then gain a position of power. We gain true power, and that is power over ourselves. This process is not instant, which is why so many people give up before they get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. No, this process is life long, and it is one of constant subjective inquiry. It is a process where we develop our own moral standing, and we begin to set standards for ourselves, while we begin to shed our expectations of others. It is when we take responsibility for the way our own lives turn out that we become fulfilled. Life rewards the free, and freedom begins with what may be the most difficult part of the process; taking accountability for the things that we have control over. As the great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius once said, "You have power over your mind- not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."