- Alcohol
- Friends & Family
Submitted by: Susanne Johnson
I learned about the Heroes 6k in Leiper’s Fork, TN when I saw a poster for the event at a local running store in Nashville, Tennessee. Then, I found a card for the same run on my windshield after I finished running in a local park. After seeing about this run twice in such a short period of time, I began to think that I may be meant to attend!
That was the first time I had heard of Heroes in Recovery. I don’t personally have addiction or mental health issues, but I can relate. My mom battled the same problems because both grandparents struggled with alcoholism.
I clearly remember how my mother suffered because of her parents’ alcoholism. My mom decided very early in life to never to drink or use any drugs, so that the disease will never take over her own life. It affected my life as well, because she made sure that I was well-educated about addiction and she often encouraged me to stay away from it. She was very adamant about that.
I have never experienced addiction myself. My grandparents passed away before I was born. I just know it from my mother’s explanations and descriptions. She had to grow up with it and it was not pleasant. At that time, there was no help for those who suffered from alcoholism or for the children having this kind of problematic childhood in dysfunctional families. Back then there was nothing. The families had to live with it and find their own way out, their own solutions.
I’m 28 and in college now. There is a great deal of addiction and drug abuse in college. I have found a group of friends that are more calm and stay away from it, but I see it all around. Among my own friends, there was a lot of drinking, but fortunately there was no drug use. Fortunately, all of them stopped right after they completed college, and no one I know has been trapped in addiction.
Heroes in Recovery seems to be a great movement to me. There is so much stigma around addiction, alcoholism and mental illness. Nobody wants to be around it or deal with it. People suffer because they are afraid to seek help and I like to encourage them to get help that is available now. It’s not like the old days anymore, when you couldn’t find any help. Today you can– please use it.