A Spiritual Experience
I grew up well provided for, with loving parents, in a good neighborhood. I had every opportunity to succeed yet, I cast them all aside in lieu of drugs and alcohol. Something inside of me is different. Something inside of my brain reacts abnormally when I consume mood and mind altering substances.
At 16, I got my first taste of cocaine, and if I am honest, from that point on I had little choice in whether I continued to get high or not. Fortunately, for me, I have an extreme reaction. I become obsessed, laser focused, and unable to maintain any semblance of a “normal life.”
When I am using, I am unmanageable, unemployable, and unable to care about anything that extends beyond my immediate usage. I operated this way for years. I wandered Interstate-10, living off the good will of strangers and whatever friends I could keep, couch hopping and occasionally sleeping outside.
I am grateful for the degree to which I am an addict. Because I run so hard and so fast, and burn so brightly… I had no other choice at 24 years old but to consider sobriety. 8 years of active addiction is a blip on the radar compared to some of the men and women I’ve met in recovery, but for me it was plenty. February 5, 2013 is my first and only sobriety date.
I self-admitted to Bridge House’s residential treatment program with only one hope. That hope was to be “normal.” I surrendered to the process and made a deal with myself. I agreed to do whatever Bridge House told me to do. It was suggested that I get a sponsor in a 12-step program and work the 12 steps, so I did.
In the 9 months I was in Bridge House’s care, I began to learn how to be a son, a brother, and a friend. I began to have a spiritual experience. The obsession to use drugs began to fade, and the desire to live sober came on even stronger. It has been 2,121 days since I got sober and I still live my life by the same spiritual principals I learned while I was in Bridge House.
Over the last 5 years, I have mended relationships, and cultivated new ones. I have been given the opportunity to become financially stable and a reliable employee. I have been able to give back to the recovery community, as well as my local community. Most importantly, I now know that my 8 years of active addiction were not time wasted. Those eight years make me uniquely suited to help anyone who has a desire to try to get sober. My life today exceeds my wildest expectations, but I could have never taken those first steps without Bridge House. Thank you!