- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Mental Health
Monica grew up in North Carolina. She was abused as a child and started drinking and smoking pot at the early age of twelve. Her life went on this way until she had a near fatal car wreck at age 29. It almost cost her life—her body was physically crushed, and after long hospital stay, she had to learn to walk again and to use her arm again. Instead of making the situation better, this accident made it worse. She was in a lot of pain and turned to drugs. Monica’s drug use was not for fun, it was something that helped her pain at the time. It became a habit that not only made her addicted, but also cost her marriage, her home and got her a total of three times into prison.
It was the third trip to prison that made her wake up. She had a second car wreck in 2010, this time with her parents. She went to jail the next day in a wheelchair and did not know if her mother was going to live or not. She did not see her parents for a year until she got released. But this wreck and the consequences frightened her. She feels that God spared her again that day, because she did not suffer any broken bones, although she was not wearing a seat belt. From her first accident, she lives with screws, plates and rods throughout her in her hips, her pelvis, and her shoulder. Monica finally woke up and decided that it is time to change her life. She did not want to live the old life any longer.
In June 2012, she made it to get clean and sober, living again with her parents. Her sister was four years clean at this time and is still her big support today together with her parents. Monica managed to get clean and sober all by herself, without any treatment or meetings. She got back on her mental health medication in 2012, which she had stopped as she turned to drugs, and is today, at age 44, very happy to have a life in sobriety. Monica told me how grateful she is to have the supportive environment she has now. Monica is very active in the Facebook recovery community, giving back a lot of hope and experience to people that need help to get started or need some encouragement.
As one sentence for somebody new to recovery, or at the turning point considering a life in recovery, Monica would like to give you the following on your way: “It’s worth it!”