From grass to grace reaping the gifts of sober living!
I am Brian a recovering alcoholic. My sobriety date is 23rd November 2021. For fourteen years I was battling the alcoholic malady. Alcohol shattered my door to becoming a catholic priest just two years to the altar. At that point I said “IT IS FINISHED.” I gave up and lost hope on life, only to find comfort from what I call “a friendly killer” alcohol. My life was a mess and this affected my lovely mother so badly watching the son die slowly. To date I am glad that PACTA rehab helped me rediscover myself by showing me the bright shining sun of recovery source of true hope.
My addiction almost took my life. After years of struggling with substance use disorder, I was so beaten down and tired of the madness that I started to think through scenarios that would end it all. I was afraid to live. I was afraid of death, but I wanted to die. I felt paralyzed and owned by a force that I couldn’t get my arms wrapped around.
Finally, I found myself smacked in the face by the recovery stick at PACTA. It turned my entire world flipped upside down. But understanding what recovery actually meant, and the power it gave me, did not happen overnight but I admitted “THERE IS SOMETHING GREATER THAN JONAH HERE.”
In the beginning of my recovery, and throughout my addiction, I was ashamed of who I was and the person I had become. I believed addiction was a weakness in my character. I thought I was held back from opportunities, and I would never be good enough for certain situations. Recovery taught me that I couldn’t have been more wrong about all that.
As I progressed in my recovery, I realized that I am not defined by my past. Instead, I found that every negative thought I had had about myself was actually a component that made me into the incredible person I am today! I never knew true happiness until I bounced back from the most challenging experience of my life:
Before recovery, I never knew how strong I actually was, and how much I could help strengthen others through telling my story. I never knew how incredibly amazing I was, and it was inside of me the whole time—I just needed to learn to love myself. And I found that in my recovery.
Recovery is not just the absence of an addiction. It’s recovering and rediscovering the person inside—and for me, that has been the most empowering and incredible part of this journey! It’s all about the chance to rediscover who you are. It’s about taking all of those pieces in your life that appeared to be shattered and bring them together again. It’s about making yourself shatterproof.
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