My True Story of Alcoholism, Addiction and the Choice to Live

sobriety success stories

The constant sense of danger wasn’t as imminent. After seventy days, I was discharged and was soon able to return to work under a monitoring contract with PHS. I attended daily AA meetings for the first ninety days. Later, I cut back to three to four meetings a week as I returned to taking call at work. At the appropriate time, with the guidance of my sponsor, I was able to make amends to everyone I had harmed, including myself. Over the next six weeks, with the help of my counselor and group members, I began to explore my character flaws and incorporate the principles of alcoholics anonymous into my life.

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  • “I’m worthy of that too. Once you get to that place it’s pretty liberating.”
  • I no longer drank much beer, as it did not provide the needed effect without voluminous consumption.

So, he often tries to set the record straight about his treatment and progress—and how he didn’t want his addictions to affect his children. I found myself drinking more and more at night at home by myself. It was something I was doing to avoid dealing with painful feelings.

Sarah’s Resilient Journey: Overcoming Adversity in Addiction Recovery

We might believe it took us 10 years to quit a job or fix a marriage, but really, if we think about it, the actual change happened in a heartbeat. By high school, I was drinking every weekend. In my world, drinking was as normal as ordering pizza. When adults sipped iced tea with dinner at a restaurant, I was dumbfounded.

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  • How could someone over the legal drinking age not be drinking?
  • And thank god I have this foundation and structure that’s keeping me afloat.
  • People walk past an East Harlem health clinic that offers free needles and other services to drug users on in New York.

Each time you recount your journey, you reaffirm your commitment to sobriety and offer a lifeline to those still seeking their path to recovery. I spent over a decade knowing that I was supposed to be someone else but constantly getting further and further away from that. So for me, the things that have been difficult like friendships and relationships are different now that I can stand up for myself and set boundaries and I know what I want.

But there’s a deeper, human element in each story that is too often untold. Many addictions stem from underlying issues like trauma, mental health disorders, or stress. Addressing these root causes is essential for lasting recovery. Olivia’s addiction to stimulants began in her teens and led to years of chaos and instability.

sobriety success stories

I had sores on my head from not washing my hair and sores on my face from a relentless obsession that meth gives you for picking at anything close by. I weighed 78 pounds and experienced frequent kidney infections, seizures and voices calling my name in the darkness. I stayed awake for three or four days at a time, getting high and drinking myself into alcohol poisoning. I blacked out often and am still missing large chunks of my timeline.

sobriety success stories

Your recovery story starts today.

Don initially rejected the concept of a higher power. Like many others before him, though, he stumbled upon a healing force that’s both intangible and unexplainable. Bill used drugs https://ecosoberhouse.com/ for thirty years from the age of 11. Choosing recovery close to home means your support system is just a few miles away. There’s an adage that we heal ourselves by helping others.

sobriety success stories

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sobriety success stories

It doesn’t do anything for my spiritual state, my mental state, or my creative state. It takes from that and I don’t want to play with fire. I got sober two months after my mom died very suddenly. I’ve dealt with a lot of grief in my sobriety but I haven’t picked up a drink, and I think it’s because for some weird reason it feels better walking through it and feeling everything. And thank god I have this foundation and structure that’s keeping me afloat.

sobriety success stories

Motivational Real-Life Addiction Stories

  • “Things that I thought I would never gain again, through the process of recovery I have them all,” she said.
  • It’s hard for me to describe it without closing my eyes and getting a little emotional.
  • I had sores on my head from not washing my hair and sores on my face from a relentless obsession that meth gives you for picking at anything close by.
  • It’s living in the present, always aware I have choices to make every day.
  • Don feels that he relapsed because his spirituality was missing.

I went to AA meetings regularly during my first year of sobriety, and I still work the program. It’s not for everyone, but it makes sense to me. And, I’m unapologetic about taking what works and leaving the rest. For now, I want to sobriety success stories share three inspirations that form the cornerstones of how I live into my sobriety. When I got sober, I thought giving up [alcohol] was saying goodbye to all the fun and all the sparkle, and it turned out to be just the opposite.