If life were a movie, we’d all have a similar story.

Now, that doesn’t mean that every event that happens is the same for everybody. Not at all. We all handle situations differently. But something that we all share is that, sooner or later, we will face that inevitable obstacle that comes our way.

That obstacle can be a person, sudden change or a life-altering challenge. One of the biggest obstacles for any person is addiction. Now, when people think of addiction, their minds are prompted to think of drugs or alcohol as the main culprit, but that isn’t always the case. You can be addicted to any substance, thing or activity. If our individual lives were a movie, we’d be the hero, and we would look at that hindrance as the villain we must defeat in order to restore peace and move forward.

In the history of literature and film’s iconic antagonists — the most recognizable is the Joker — he has taken the characteristics of a villain to new heights.

The Joker first appeared in the debut issue of Batman and Robin published by DC Comics in 1940. Over the next years, the character would see various portrayals and reprisals of the acclaimed supervillain.

Whether it be through comic books, graphic novels, TV shows or films, one thing is certain—the Joker remains prevalent in the mainstream culture and is the most loved, yet hated, character in the Batman franchise.

One of the Joker’s main goals is to make Batman see the similarities between them two and to convince him that they are the same. The Joker does not want to kill Batman; not in a literal sense.

He wants to kill the image and the reputation of Batman. He wants to torture Batman mentally and emotionally. He wants to fill his conscience with guilt and shame. He wants to remind him of all his past mistakes and persuade him to think that the blame is solely on him.

The Joker finds humor in people’s failures and downfalls. He wishes to see the city and the people Batman most cares about turn against him and see him as someone who cannot be trusted and someone who you should not put your faith in.

We all have some sort of addiction, we all have a “Joker” in our life. We can be addicted to an endless amount of things. We can be addicted to smoking, drinking, gambling, pornography, TV, sports; we can even be addicted to a person, whether it be the person we are in a current relationship with or a past relationship.

The Joker knows us better than anyone else, maybe even better than ourselves. He knows our strengths and weaknesses and knows what it takes to get our attention. The Joker will find us at our most vulnerable moment and will deceive us to believe there aren’t any alternatives.

He also knows when things are going good for us and will find a way to play tricks on our mind to make us think it will not last. He sees us trying to stand up and trying to continue on with our lives but will do everything possible to knock us back down and keep us down.

The Joker laughs in our face and wants to cloud our minds with the constant reminder of what we are and what we do. And enslave us in this bubble of feeling ashamed of ourselves for as long as he can. He wants to make us think there’s no way out.

Every time we are defeated and overcome, he literally wants to make a joke out of us. He wants us to doubt ourselves and live in a world of hopelessness.

He knows who our friends and family are and he knows those we hold most dearly. His desire is to see us fall time and time again causing people to not trust in our word anymore and to turn their backs. He wants people to give up on us. He wants us to feel worthless and to take away the purpose in our life. Addiction will eat away at your soul, mind, body and heart and it will not rest until there is no trace of the person you were meant to be.

In order to defeat the Joker, in order to overcome our addiction, we need to be prepared to fight and to equip ourselves with the right weapons. The first step is to admit there is something wrong, and to acknowledge our weaknesses. Once we do that, were lessening the amount of power that addiction has on us.

Another thing we have to do is stop carrying the weight of guilt and shame. We all go through situations in our lives and we all suffer from different addictions. The main difference between some people is that some of us at least attempt to do something about it and others simply feel like they can’t get out of it. Some people are OK with their addiction.