- Alcohol
- Drugs
My story begins like so many others. I had spent the better part of my life using and abusing drugs. I had tried to get clean and failed many times. I had thought that I had reached my bottom many times, only to find out that it was much deeper than I thought. The last time I found myself in a hospital, overdosing and looking for my next fix, everything suddenly changed. Things started to make sense. This so called life I had been living wasn’t a life at all, and I certainly wasn’t living.
Shortly thereafter, I found myself in my third and final stay in rehab. I woke up one day and realized I wanted a life that I could enjoy living, one that is free of addiction and more importantly, one I could be proud of. I quickly learned that putting down drugs was going to be the easiest part of my recovery process. I spent the next year of my life immersed in outpatient care and daily 12-step meetings. That was where I found a group of people who were like me and understood the struggles I was going through. I learned that, in order to feel better about myself, I had to treat others better. It was one of the best realizations of my recovery when I learned that the way I felt largely depended on the way I treated others.
Three years after putting down drugs, my life has changed in ways I never thought possible. I’m finally free of the legal troubles I had gotten myself into. My debts have been paid, and my amends are in order. These days, I spend my life traveling around the country indulging in my many hobbies such as rock climbing, scuba diving and road biking. I am currently working toward ticking off the “50 Classic Climbs of North America” and have climbed a dozen of them so far. When I’m not climbing, I spend my days in Monterrey, CA and Carmel, CA diving the many beautiful coves the area has to offer. Life still isn’t perfect. But when I live my life one day at a time, it continues to improve.