Addiction is a very heavy weight that can affect so many people. My family has had the misfortune of being dragged into the darkness by this terrible illness. In 2020, my uncle died of a fentanyl overdose. He was an addict who went through rehab multiple times, though it didn't seem to do him any good. He was a very good person despite his addictions. He always had a positive outlook on life. You felt joy from being around him, listening to his jokes, and hearing his stories about everyday encounters. He didn't deserve to die, yet addiction drove him to that fate. His son, my cousin, is currently an addict who has also been through rehab multiple times. He has died for the third time in his life recently. His heart has stopped three times due to overdose and he has been deemed medically dead each time. The rehabilitation centers just don't seem to get through to some people and families are forced to have their hopes rise and get crushed repeatedly because of this disease that grabs a hold of their loved ones and drags them into the darkest places they have ever been in. My cousin has recently started seeing a therapist to help him with his mental health issues and his addiction with a one-on-one approach. My cousin, for the first time, feels like he is genuinely improving in his life and with himself. He seems happier and more full of life, like the cousin I grew up with as a child. I am pursuing a degree in the mental health field because I want to be able to save those who don't work well with rehabilitation centers. I aspire to be the light in people's lives that this therapist was to my cousin. To be able to give families their hopes and dreams of having their loved ones back, freed from the shackles that these addictions confine them to. I am a firm believer in second chances. I believe everyone deserves them because people can change. Addiction is just a blockade that prevents that change. My goal in life is to help addicts move around these blockades and reach their destinations in their lives. Everyone has dark times in life and everyone needs help sometimes. If I could be that helping hand that someone needs to reach back into the light, I can be more than happy with how my life turns out.