- Alcohol
- Friends & Family
What was your journey to recovery? What was life like and what is life like now?
I worked for the same company for 31 years. I worked my way up. I had no college and was a single parent. When the kids moved out, my drinking took off like crazy. Out of the 31 years I worked for that company I drank like I meant it for the last eight.
They took me to rehab. It is an awesome company and I have no resentments whatsoever but eventually I got laid off. I nearly died. I fell in my room, drinking. I woke up on my bed and I woke up with the paramedics looking over me saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay. We’re not here to judge you.” I was like, “what? Judge me, for what?”
They take me out on a gurney and all my neighbors were watching. I nearly bled to death from hitting my head on my dresser. The carpet had to be ripped out and come to find out there were 27 empty magnums of wine on my bedroom floor. I had drank them all and tried to function and it just didn’t work.
I drank my way through Hurricane Irene and I was in treatment during hurricane Sandy. Every house on the street was devastated except mine which was crazy and just God working in my life. I’m only two and a half years sober and had been in and out of the rooms since 2004 and never got more than 90 days.
In recovery, I have reinvented myself. I am the publisher and editor of my own magazine. I am immersed in the field. My son is in recovery now and he is doing fantastic. I don’t have the finances that I used to have, I don’t make the six figures I used to make, but I’m happy. That hole in my soul is getting filled. I’ve found ways to do that other than drinking. I’ve replaced and mended the relationships that I had destroyed. I thought the only person I was hurting was myself.
What is one truth through this process that you have learned?
Every moment counts. What you think is a bad situation, perhaps it isn’t a “bad” situation but just a situation that setting you up for something you need to have later. The journey is what the journey is supposed to be and everyone is entitled to the dignity of their own journey and whatever that is, there is no reason to judge.
Do you have any words of encouragement to share with someone who is struggling?
Look at your life and ask the question, “Is this the life I’m meant to be living?” If it’s not, be open to the signs of what you are supposed to be doing and trust it.