- Alcohol
On November 1, 2014, Willie celebrated 26 years of amazing, continuing sobriety. Before this magic date in 1988, his main problem was alcohol. Other substances were tried and used, but alcohol was always his main trouble. He can talk humorously about his addiction today, calling his addiction, “me and my baby bottle,” but the problem was not a joke. It was a serious problem targeting his life and living.
After growing up in Connecticut, he lived outside of the United States for many years. For over a decade he lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. At first he was traveling abroad as a Peace Corps volunteer. In one way this experience did not make him different from people that stayed home: he became an addict and alcoholic. The disease does not care where you live, what you do or how many languages you speak.
At the end of his drinking days, he was getting very sick and was hospitalized several times. His doctor told him that he might only have two weeks left because of his drinking. These words stopped Willie’s drinking for two days until he had to go on a business trip. He drank again on day three and was back on a liter of whiskey a day after a week.
In desperation his wife went to Willie’s boss and asked him to intervene and talk to Willie about his alcohol consumption. The boss offered help and support during this talk, and Willie asked to speak to his pastor about it. His pastor suggested joining AA. The pastor told Willie about his father who went to AA and how he got to spend two years with a sober father until his father was hit by a drunk driver and died. Willie was touched by this and felt something spiritual at this moment. He finally made the connection between life and death and his issue. He told a business associate in Guatemala about his situation and found out this man was a member of AA himself, and he became Willie’s sponsor.
Willie describes letting go of perfectionism, stepping back and trusting as important steps in his learning process. He knows he does not have any more chances. He cannot survive a relapse at this point.
His wife is also in recovery; she is a cancer survivor. Both have had their bad times and good times in life, and both managed to recover from a potentially fatal disease. They have been married for 40 years and moved 22 times, but they now live in Florida and have been in the same place for 14 years.
During his first meetings, Willie read, “Don’t leave before the miracle happens.” He wanted to know what this “miracle” was, but nobody would tell him. He kept going to meetings, and he asked again and again only to find people smiling and saying, “Keep coming back!” He cried to a God that he did not believe in at this time, and He sent him his sponsor. Willie likes to ask people who are not in recovery yet to just give it a try. “Even if you don’t believe in God, cry out to him and see what happens,” he says.
Willie has worked in the recovery industry for 14 years by working with people in early recovery, getting them into detox and guiding them into residential treatment. He loves to see people improving and getting their lives back.
Willie’s greatest sense of improvement came when his cravings stopped. At first he thought he would have to fight them all his life, and he sees their disappearance as a blessing. He drastically improved his health when he stopped drinking, and he also changed his lifestyle. He now gets up at 4:30 am, loves to walk and exercise, tries to eat right, takes supplements, lives an active healthy lifestyle and takes care of himself. He loves his parrot, an African grey that does not speak bad words or ask for beer, enjoys his work and keeps going to meetings. Every time he goes to a meeting, even after all his years of sobriety, he learns something new and often from newcomers. He says, “Just be open and listen!”