Through my interviews with clients about their use of cigarettes, I gained insight into many aspects of addiction. Some clients, when asked what they like about smoking, responded “Nothing” - yet they continue to smoke. To me, this epitomizes the tragedy of dependence and addiction. Through my conversations with staff and clients, I also learned that relapse is an extremely common part of all kinds of addiction recovery. Addicts face many challenges in recovery, including the need to learn new habits and coping skills to deal with a host of triggers and stressors. Overall, my experience at FSH gave me a much better understanding of the nature of addiction and the difficult process of recovery. I have now seen that addiction affects all kinds of people for all sorts of different reasons, and I have gained more empathy for people with substance use disorders. This will be highly valuable to me as a physician, as I am sure that I will have many patients with a history of addiction, and I will need to be sensitive to their unique needs.