1. What was life like before recovery?

You can't really call it life in any sense of the word.  I was basically living just to use, other than that I was completely useless.  I would describe it as a spiritual death!

2. When did you realize you needed help?

Long before I found recovery, lol, but I found that when I tried to stop I couldn't...I would try to do what other people did to stop; quitting cold turkey, only partying on weekends, switching substances, geographical changes, basically anything you can imagine!  Nothing I tried on my own worked...Once I admitted that I had a problem and asked for help I was able to make some drastic revisions to my life.

3. Is there someone in your life that supported you in your journey to recovery?

My Dad has always been there for me, even when I was at my worst!  At some point he had stopped enabling me, which is what I needed, but he never shut the door on me.  His love was the light that shone at the end of the tunnel to give me hope, and to help guide me home.

4. What challenges did you overcome to thrive in recovery?

My biggest challenge was that I kept trying to outsmart my disease.  I found out later that addiction is more like an allergy.  If someone is allergic to peanuts they had better figure out a way to avoid them in their diet. Not me! I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to safely consume peanuts and nearly dying as a result!

5. What has surprised you most about recovery?

Everyday is a surprise!  Life used to have no mystery... I knew I was going to wake up, look for drugs, commit crimes, and that eventually the path I was on would lead me to prison or worse.  Now each day I wake up and am constantly amazed by new levels of personal growth, and as a cool side effect the circumstances in my life have constantly surpassed my expectations!

6. What does life look like for you now?

Now I get to help other people find their way out of the tunnel, and show my love to them as a guiding light.  Not everyone gets it their first time, but hopefully I've shown them where to go when they are ready to make the necessary changes.  I have gone from serving myself to serving others and in the process found a sufficient substitute for the substances I used to use.  The gratification I get from serving others far surpasses the feeling I used to get from drugs and alcohol, and I don't build a tolerance to it either.

7. What advice do you have for someone that is struggling right now?

Tuck in your pride and go find help!  You can't outsmart this thing or outrun it, so you better learn to live with it.  Recovery is a lifestyle, and a more satisfying one than I ever could have imagined.  But we don't recover alone, which is great news, because I put myself through way too many years of desperate isolation.  So get your butt out of the basement and go find a meeting!