[madisgram]

i know many of you are struggling with an addiction or trying to stay clean/sober. i hope this news may be a wake-up call for you. no disrespect at all intended. when we use or drink we always think that it will be the other guy who pays this ultimate price. i feel sadness. there are more ppl dieing than there are ppl who are clean and sober. sadly, she lost her life instead of choosing the "easier, softer way" in the long run -being/staying clean and sober. there is life after drugs/alcohol abuse for those who heed the possible outcome.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...ndon-flat.html

I have always loved Amy Winhouse's music/lyrics. She's an original. Wow, so young and so talented and so many difficulties and issues in a storm of dispair! Is her death a reminder what drugs/alcohol can do to us? Perhaps. . . . Probably. We won't know until the autopsy report. But right now I'd just like to mourn the fact that a talented and beautiful young woman passed. I do recognize that substance abuse severely impacted her talented and distressing life. . . . like many of us have found over our own lifetimes. But I sure don't want to shame myself or anyone else with the fact that one's choices determine one's destiny. Motivational Interviewing techniques anyone????? Yes, there is a life after drugs/alcohol abuse. I have found that. But I also know that forcing or shoving that into people's faces is not the answer. Recognizing, true empathy, rolling with the resistence, recognizing and verbalizing a person's strengths and talking about a person's ability to be strong in other aspects of their life is the way. Confrontation and the "in your face", this is life, is not always successful. Just my take on things.

[my3sns]

Well right now it is just suspected ... but i agree with jaybird... i too would just like to mourn the loss of an amazing artist who passed ... prayers for amy's friends and family

[Tatyana2009]

Drugs kill before the person is dead. Amy Winehouse is such a tragic loss.

[mgran]

Tatyana, that is such a profound statement. Thank you. My thoughts now are particularly with her family, especially her poor Dad who always said that if she couldn't get clean she was going to die young. How much he must regret that prophecy and the fact that he was proven right.

Madisgram, you say that she chose drugs instead of choosing the "easier, softer way". It's not easy at all, if you're an alchoholic or drug addict to chose sobriety. It's not soft, it's not easy. I blame her management team, always keen to make a quick buck on her... nobody just stood up and told her no. I got a news letter from psych central just a few weeks ago, talking about how monstrously her yes men treated her, allowing her to stumble out drunk and disorderly on stage, how much she needed one voice of reason. yes man after yes man after yes man. She needed help to go down that "easier" path... Yes, if she'd lived to thirty she might have made it, with support, but she pushed support away, and nobody knew or cared enough to push through it.

I'm glad she's out of her pain though. And Lord, do I pity her family.

I'm sorry, but it is "no one's fault!"! Why is that so hard for peopel to accept/ to see? Amy knew, in her heart of hearts, what was TRUE. Even of someone said, Amie, you are out of control, . ... your use is out of control . .. or whatever one wanted to say. ... reality? Amy waned what se wanted and she wasn't at a point of listening or hearing what she needed to hear. My biase? No one was able to talk to Amy in a way she needed to hear. ... No one knew how to recognize her ambiviance . . . no one wanted to roll with her strong and celebrity supported reisstence . .. how sad. . .. how hurtful and how destructive. Amy died. What a loss. She was so freakin' talented and we weren't able to reach out and connect with her. That is what is sooooooooo sad about substance abuse reach out!!!!!

[littlebitlost]

This scares the shyt out of me. I'm an addict. And I go into rehab this coming week. I have stopped using, but life without is going to be the tough bit.

I hope this is a wake up call to other addicts that this crap can really kill. Might not be this line, that cone, or this pill, but add it all up and chances are it won't be pretty.

[SoupDragon]

Originally Posted by littlebitlost

This scares the shyt out of me. I'm an addict. And I go into rehab this coming week. I have stopped using, but life without is going to be the tough bit.

I hope this is a wake up call to other addicts that this crap can really kill. Might not be this line, that cone, or this pill, but add it all up and chances are it won't be pretty.

Thank-you for sharing this, really wishing you well - stay brave

[littlebitlost]

Thanks.

[SoupDragon]

No cause of death known yet - I hope this was an accident and not linked to the horrible phone hacking scandal that is affecting celebrities at the moment.

[Evening]

Yes I would like to note that all we know at this current point is that she DIED, not what she died OF. While it's obviously not unlikely that it may have been drugs/alcohol, until it is proven we just don't know that her cause of death was from addiction.

[madisgram]

i meant no sarcasm/condescension when i said i hoped others would heed what alcohol and drug abuse can ultimately do. the "easier, softer way" is a term used in 12 step programs. seems like many of u had never heard the term. it means if we continue to drink or drug it leads to jails, institutions and death. there's a scientific bell curve showing these events as one spirals out of control. it's a harsh reality. the "easier, softer way" means in the long run living life on life's terms no matter what falls in one's life and staying clean and sober. it is a hell of a lot "easier" than one's life being dictated by the call of a drug or alcohol and also possibly dying because of their useage.
i have many years of sobriety. of course it wasn't "easy" at first staying sober. it takes time but time yields excellent results. freedom. so for me it certainly is the easier, softer way. i would have been dead by now had i not stopped. i have buried many, many friends who chose to use again. they did not chose to die. it was an overdose by mistake. i also buried friends that could not get honest with themselves re their addiction, who felt so utterly helpless in the vicious cycle they chose sui..instead. they didn't want to live anymore if they continued using. but the paradox here is they couldn't imagine life without using. i personally met that impass during my addiction. i chose LIFE.
i felt i had shown the respect due for a young person who died before her time. i also know and have lived in the hell of addiction. it is not a topic that can be tippy-toed around. people DIE. that's serious to me. i have seen it firsthand. if only one person reads my post and gets help then i've carried the intended message.

[madisgram]

Originally Posted by Jaybird57

I'm sorry, but it is "no one's fault!"! Why is that so hard for peopel to accept/ to see? Amy knew, in her heart of hearts, what was TRUE. Even of someone said, Amie, you are out of control, . ... your use is out of control . .. or whatever one wanted to say. ... reality? Amy waned what se wanted and she wasn't at a point of listening or hearing what she needed to hear. My biase? No one was able to talk to Amy in a way she needed to hear. ... No one knew how to recognize her ambiviance . . . no one wanted to roll with her strong and celebrity supported reisstence . .. how sad. . .. how hurtful and how destructive. Amy died. What a loss. She was so freakin' talented and we weren't able to reach out and connect with her. That is what is sooooooooo sad about substance abuse reach out!!!!!

when we reach out to the person who needs help, their responsibility to themselves is to reach out their hand to us too. no one can truly get well unless they face their own truth about themselves and take action. (it's unfortunate but true that most are unable to get real with themselves and face their demon. it's very hard too see ourselves in that light.) we cannot do it alone. only 1 in a 100. scary statistic. we are the "miracles" who got help and stayed clean and sober.

[gma45]

So sad, It scares me too, As I have been an addict for years with off and on sobriety. Such a waste of talent, It is to bad asking for help is such a hard thing to do. R.I.P. Amy!