Having a great time watching Celebrity Rehab on VH1.  I don’t watch a lot of tv, but when I do it’s either South Park or VH1 reality shows. My attention span is too short for much else.  It’s a good show, it’s definitely a real rehab, they’re doing the real stuff and Dr. Drew seems pretty cool as a counselor. Â
It got me to thinking about my rehab days, and addiction in general. It’s funny that I have never regreted a single mistake made or shameful experience that I’ve had, unless alcohol or narcotics was involved.  Because then I wasn’t around to experience the mistake, it’s like reading about somebody else’s mistake in the newspaper.  So, being disconnected from me, the mistake was wasted on somebody else. If I had made the mistake in my sober mind, then it would’ve been me that made the mistake, so the experience was lived through and (hopefully) learned from, right?
In the same vein the only comments I’ve ever regretted are comments made in echo of another person’s voice. I’ve done it many times, it’s natural to want to do that, but if I don’t feel it, then it’s not me talking, it’s someone else.  I know we’re supposed to respect our elders and all that, but isn’t it more respectful not to copy them?  And it’s even worse when we copy our peers. Then we’re imitating imitators (not all younger people imitate, but most do).  A lot of people live their whole life as an echo – I feel like our whole job should be to resist that urge.  An echo is safe – “Who was that? Oh, nobody there, just an echo.”