Living Every Day With Hope
September 17th – Identity
“It seemed so right at the time. Smoking pot was a way of declaring my independence and establishing an identity.”
– A Life Worth Living, Life with Hope, second edition, page 165
Throughout my life, my identity was very much defined by smoking herbs. However, the day came when I realized that I was addicted and I felt a new identity emerge, one based on who I truly am and not anchored in some substance. From the realization that I was not a person because of drugs, but rather from being a person in myself, set me free to pursue a larger I, and with the help from my new family, a greater We. Today, I stand as a human who has discovered many layers of self that were not available to me while numbing my conscious and unconscious self with marijuana.
Final thought: Today, I am thankful for being a fuller and more present human being.
Living Every Day with Hope – Copyright © 2025 Marijuana Anonymous World Services. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Marijuana Anonymous groups have been granted limited permission to quote Living Every Day with Hope.
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Heard in an MA Meeting
“By respecting myself, my world changes for the better.” Published in A New Leaf – June 2026
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