- Alcohol
My sobriety date is June 14, 2014. The parts of my life in addiction that I can remember are pretty depressing. I didn’t know it at the time; I thought I was happy then. Life was military and lots and lots of alcohol, to sum it up. It’s probably not the most interesting story, definitely not the hard fall to rock bottom a lot of other people have had, but I’m glad that I found recovery before I hit rock bottom.
I knew I needed help even as a younger person. I started drinking at 14, and by 19 I knew I needed help. However admitting you’re an alcoholic is so much different than accepting you’re an alcoholic and being willing to change. The willingness to get help just wasn’t there. I finally became willing after I died from overdosing on sleeping pills and chasing that with vodka. I went to one meeting after, but even death really wasn’t enough to scare me. You think that would do the trick, but it didn’t. It wasn’t until my little boy had a fever in the middle of the night and I couldn’t wake up and had to have a neighbor drive us to the hospital. I wouldn’t recover for myself, but I tried to recover for him. I eventually found out that it was for myself; now I’m doing it for me.
I have a whole new sense of peace. I know that’s kind of cliché. I feel so much freer than ever before. I thought my life would be over if I gave it up. My whole party life is gone, but that life was miserable, and I didn’t know it. I was drinking by myself. I wasn’t partying. That’s not partying. Now I’m partying. Today.
Anybody who is struggling with addiction or other related problems shouldn’t be scared to ask for help. You’re not alone; there are so many others like you out there. We’re all in this together, we’ve all been there and seen it, and we understand you.