Keep Coming Back

Hi, I’m Chuck and I have been in recovery for about 2 ½ years. If you ask me what led me to finally seek treatment, I would have to say the pain. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I lost a meaningful relationship. I was so depressed. I would just sit in my room sighing about my life. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. At one point, I was actually living in a hallway.

Since finding recovery my life is an actual life! A good one. I have an apartment I pay for and a new baby son who means the world to me. I am able to be there for my loved ones. I have also gone back to school. I am making things happen. I still struggle on occasion, which is not unexpected, but I handle it. It is usually caused by my unwillingness to follow suggestions. Even though I have experienced what doesn’t work for me, I sometimes still like to think that bad behavior will be ok, and I can try things my way. Of course, it doesn’t take long to figure out I need to follow the plan, and so I do.

I got my most important piece of advice from a guy I never would have expected I would get advice from. He had a completely different background than me, but it was great advice. I asked him “How do you stop using and stay clean?” to which he replied “Just do it. You know all the work and suggestions that have been offered you that can help you, so get started right now!” And this ties in to an important truth I have learned—not everything is a process. Some things I do are not healthy for me. There is really no process to stopping unhealthy behaviors. I just need to stop doing them. End of story.

I do have a word of advice for anyone who is at the beginning of the recovery journey or is maybe afraid to get started. There’s so much that happens on the road to recovery. It’s such a cliché, but really the best way to sum it up is “Keep coming back.” Just keep coming back!

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